Would Things Be Different?
by TomboyishRandom
Summary: UPDATED 4/10/08 . . . . R&R. Flames accepted. What if Brian has a sister, a cop just like him? What if she did all the things he had done in the movie? Would things be different because she's a girl, or not?
1. Chapter 1

My sleek Ford thunderbird glided down the street, almost as if it was floating.

'Look who it is', Letty murmured as I pulled up across the street. I didn't know the events that had happened before I arrived; apparently they had already kicked Brian out. Letty's problems didn't stop as I stepped out.

'Long black hair, is that a little red fringe I see?' Leon laughed, 'Oh, Tom-boy', he sighed as he walked to the back of the café.

'Hey', I smiled at Letty as I walked passed and sat down on the stool.

'The Tuna?' asked Mia, behind the counter.

'I don't know, how is it?' I asked.

'Oh god, Jude, you and Brian are exactly alike', Mia smiled.

'We can't help it, we're twins, it runs in the blood or something', I laughed as Mia pulled a sandwich out of a plastic box.

'Your Brian's sister?' Letty asked, sitting a seat or two down from me.

'Yeah, I just moved here', I smiled as Letty sneered.

'I hate the white boy, so watch out', Letty scoffed getting up and heading into the back of the Café.

'What's my brother ever done to you?' I asked, getting up with a piece of her sandwich and following her into the back.

'Jude…' Mia started.

'He beat the fuck out of Vince, that's why I hate him', Letty spat.

'So you hate someone because of what they did to someone else?' I asked, taking another bight of my sandwich, 'You have twisted priorities'.

'Wha…' Letty gaped. No-one had ever spoken to her with such calm while actually insulting her.

'Thanks, Mia, keep the change', I smiled, chucking a twenty on the bench when it was only a three-dollar sandwich.

'Yo! Try Fat burger from now on. You can get yourself a Double Cheese with fries for two ninety five', Letty shouted, walking out of the Café and following me to my car.

'I like the tuna here', I answered, not turning around, already knowing who it was.

'Bullshit. No one likes the tuna here', Letty shouted, still following me to the car.

'Well, I do', I answered calmly as I was about the put the key into the door; before I found myself face against the door, a tingling sensation in the middle of my back. She had pushed me. Bitch. I swung around smacking Letty's cheek using a bloody awesome and well-placed left hook, Letty came back around to push me into the car with a shoulder to my stomach. I pushed us away from the truck trying to get on top of the situation as Letty continued to try and push me; I was rammed back into the car again. Finally I was able to bring up my knee up into Letty's stomach and elbowed her in the middle of her spine.

We tackled each other to the ground, Letty socking me a good twice in a row with a right hook. I tumbled us, getting back to my feet only to get pushed by Letty into one of the other cars. I got Letty on the ground and was about to sock her with a right hook when someone grabbed me up from behind. I was chucked back onto my car, a little surprised to see Dominic standing there.

'Hey, dude, she was in my face', I defended myself hands held up while trying to steady myself against my car.

'**I'm** in your face', Dom told me stepping towards me threateningly. Letty jumped at me again, but only hit Dominic who pushed her back into the others. 'Relax! Don't push it! You embarrass me!' Dom yelled, pointing a finger at her in warning. That caused me to a smile a little. Vince, who I had found had earlier beat my brother, was holding Letty, trying to pull her away.

'Jesse, give me the wallet', Dom told the younger looking kid. That was when I noticed that my brand new wallet had fallen from my pocket during the fight. Jesse picked it up off the asphalt and handed it over to Dom who opened it up. 'Jude Lee Spilner. Your brother was here earlier?' Dom asked me.

'I don't know, I don't keep him on a leash', I snapped back.

'Don't come around here again!' Dom sneered pointing a finger at me and throwing my wallet at me with the other.

'Fuck this shit, man, that's bullshit', I yelled at him, not really noticing the height and body difference till he had stepped closer to me. Dom stopped pointing at me with a fisted hand as he did, anger written all over his face.

'You work for Harry right?' asked Dominic, indicating to the load I had on my back seat.

'No, what do you think that place is, a "family reunion"?' I asked, picking my fallen key's up off the road, unlocking my car and jumping into it.

'Talk about Déjà vu', Dominic muttered as he pushed Letty and everybody inside as I sped off down the street before coming to an abrupt halt and spinning around. I revved my engine and everybody stepped back out, but not to far. I took my foot of the brake and sped up and flew passed them, on my way back home.

'What's…' I started as I had arrived at Racers Edge.

'Brian, I'm really sorry. I really hate doing this. Dom could ruin my business if he wanted. When Dominic drives he's golden. Kids pour in here, they want everything he has, every performance part, _and they pay cash_! You and your sister, your screwing up my business', Harry exclaimed as Brian was packing his stuff into a duffle bag, along with two other bags.

'Look, Harry, we're sorry', I jumped in, as Brian chucked me a bag.

'So am I, Jay', Harry muttered, scuffling my hair before heading back to the front of the store.

'I'm sorry, Brian', I started but he just smiled at me and got me in a headlock.

'Hey, I haven't lost my job, I just lost my place to say', he laughed, dragging me out of the store as I laughed. Since he wasn't staying at work anymore, he let me out of the headlock and walked round back to his car.

'I'll race you home', I laughed as he pulled out of the driveway and I had just started my car.

'Deal, if I win, you sleep on the couch', he shouted before racing off, me, not far behind.

* * *

I had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the TV. Brian had beaten me back so I was therefore forced to sleep on the couch. I awoke my peaceful slumber to find the TV turned off and the bedroom door opened.

'Brian?' I shouted out, leaning over the back of the couch, trying to see into the bedroom. No answer. I went to call again, but my phone rang, 'Yello?'

'Jay, you've got to get down here'. It was Brian.

'Where are you?' I asked, getting up off the couch and pulling my jacket off of the small kitchen table, along with my car keys.

'Street racing', he said rather happily, as I laughed at him.

'Oh shit', I laughed as I dropped my jacket and car-keys and ran into the bedroom.

'What?' Brian shouted as I heard some engines roaring in the background.

'I'm in my P.J's, that's what, I'll be there in five', I laughed, hanging up on him and picking out my tight black jeans, my taking back Sunday shirt, and my black converse with bright green shoelaces. Chucking them on, I jogged back out into the main room, picked up my keys, leaving the jacket be and left. Unlocking the car door, jumping in, starting the car, closing the door, not bothering with my seatbelt, I raced out of the driveway and down the freeway.

'She don't deserve that car, man', I heard people say as I arrived to where Brian had said he was.

'Jude', Brian shouted as I parked my car in the line in the middle and got out.

'Hey, what's up?' I asked him, as he walked over, I noticed his car across from mine.

'I'm gunna race', he muttered in my ear as he hugged me.

'No way', I exclaimed, pulling back from him, 'No, No, No'.

'Yes, way', Brian smiled, pulling away and heading over to his car. I walked back, locked up my car and followed him over.

'No, Brian', I stated acting like an older sister, when in all truthfulness he was older.

'Why no?' he asked me, smiling a knowing smile.

'Because you have nothing to give if they place money on it', I smiled, nudging him with my shoulder as I noticed a few people looking at my car. 'I'll talk to you later'.

'Hey, hold up, hold up. Look at this snow-man right here, man', a guy said as he moved towards Brian. 'Sweet ride. What you running under there, man?' He asked. Brian just gave him a smirk before stuffing his hands into his pockets. 'You gonna make me find out the hard way?' The guy asked him. I smiled and said later to the guys I was talking to and went and stood beside the guy Brian was talking to.

'Hell, yeah', he told him with a wicked smirk.

'Your brave, your brave. They call me Hector. I got a last name too, but I can't pronounce it, so…' He told Brian as I made a weird face.

'Brian Spilner', he replied holding out his hand, 'My sister, Jude'.

'Ah, typical white boy name. Know what I'm saying?' Hector told us shaking my hand, making me smile.

'You see that over there?' He asked us point out his car with the hood off so you could see just how much fucking money he had, or used to have. I noticed Hector's car was right next to mine. 'That's mine. It's my baby. But I ain't cuttin' her loose tonight', Hector told Brian leaning against the side of his car as I headed round Hector to stand beside Brian.

'Why not?' I asked him.

'Nah, its 'cause I'm going legit, chica. Trying to get on the NIRA circuit. You heard about that?' Hector asked me.

'Oh, hell, yeah', Brian told him nodding.

'So what? What's up with you, man?' Hector asked him.

'I'm just waiting for Torreto', Brian told him as I gaped at Brian. How could he be waiting for someone so…

'Shit, Better get in line', said a guy I recognized from the night I arrived her in LA, walking up to us a blue bandana tied around his forehead. 'This yours?' He asked indicating to the car.

'Yeah. I'm standing next to it', Brian replied smoothly as I snorted slightly.

'That's funny. You know, Edwin happens to know a few things. And one of the things Edwin knows is, it's not how you stand by your car. It's how you race your car. You better learn that', He warned him, and Brian nodded, not bad advice. I cracked up laughing. That was when we heard the motors, five cars arriving.

'Oh, shit. Here they come', Edwin said clapping his hands together once excitedly, 'It's on'.

They parked, Dom and his crew getting out girls throwing themselves towards them. Dom seemed to be enjoying the attention, but that was when Letty stepped up.

'Rowr', she meowed, 'I smell skanks, why don't you girls back it up before I leave tread marks on your face?' she said, stepping forward negatively.

'Letty, I was just talking', Dom smiled, as Letty scoffed and walked off.

Brian and I stayed close to Hector and Edwin as they moved in. I noticed Brian staying out of sight, I thought it odd since he came here to show Torreto up, didn't he? I watched as Dom called to Hector, greeting him and Edwin like family.

'Once race. Two-G buy-in. Winner takes all', Dom stated his order. 'Hector, you're going to hold the cash'.

'Why Hector?' One of the drivers racing asked, handing his money over.

''Cause he's too slow to make away with the money, man', Edwin replied handing his own money over. People just laughed and Hector just pretended not to hear it.

'Okay good luck guy's', Dom told them getting ready to take off.

'Hey, wait. Hold up', Brian called out, figuring it was now or never. I gaped at him as he ran into the circle. I followed him out and snatched his pink slip for his car out of his hand. 'I don't have any cash, but I do have the pink slip to my car', He told them stepping up and pulling it from my hand.

'Hey, you can't just climb in the ring with Ali 'cause you think you box', Jesse exclaimed.

'She knows I can box', I told him pointing over to Letty sitting on her car, as I pulled my own pink slip from my pocket. Everybody was looking around to someone, possibly trying to get an answer as to why I was stepping in. Brian was not going to lose what he had spent so much to build. 'So check it, it's like this. I lose; the winner takes my car, clean and clear. But if I win, I take the cash, and I take the respect', I told them.

People laughed and I just stayed stone clear. 'To some people, that's more important', I told them. I was pleased that the only two who shown a reaction about the idea was Dominic and Brian. For some reason, after the predicament with Letty, Dominic was all I could think about.

'That your car?' He asked me motioning to Brian's car.

'Nope', I smirked, 'That is', and I did a kind of grease move as I pointed over to my car.

'Sorry', I whispered to Brian as I walked passed; he nodded at me slightly, and of course like any big brother, he was a little worried for me. Jesse popped the hood and took the inventory while others in the crowed made funny noises at it, some even laughing because they didn't know what they were talking about.

'I see a cool-air intake. It's got a NOS-fogger system and a T-four turbo, Dominic. I see an A.I.C. controller. It has direct port nitrous injection', Jesse told him and everybody listening.

'Yeah, and a stand-alone fuel management system, not a bad way to spend $10,000', Dominic approved. Yeah it was a lot of money, none of it spent by me, Brian had bought it all for me as soon as I was old enough to drive. I nodded nervously.

'You see that shit?' Edwin asked Dominic after getting a close enough look under the hood. 'She's got enough NOS in there to blow herself up, period'.

'Yeah', Dominic replied glancing over at Brian who was beside me before actually looking at me.

'So, what do you say? Am I worthy?' I asked him.

'We don't know yet. But you're in', Dom told me. 'Let's go'.

We all pulled out, taking off to the location for tonight's race, frogs in my stomach. We lined up, I stopping a little too short of the start line, I was so nervous. Dom looked down the line, everybody following his lead till they came upon me. I didn't dare look for fear of chickening out.

I started my NOS and it's system before turning back to the street in front of me. I was craving a lecture from Brian, which was something I never really wanted before. I started psyching myself up for the win, trying to visualize it.

It was on, I pulling out a little behind all the other racers as the race started. I passed up Edwin and the Asian guy with my first hit of NOS when my program started to warn me of danger to my manifold. I didn't listen, because I knew I could win if I just bypass the problem and hit my last shot of NOS passing Dom up. I was nearly to the finish line when Dom's car shot passed mine, causing me to gape as he went passed.

I pulled up shortly after the others, thinking more of shooting passed so I didn't have to give my car up. I waited a second before stepping out. I watched Dom pick up Letty and say: "My trophy". For some reason, that made my almost win happiness diminish a little. I continued to smile however as I made my way over to the winner and his "Trophy".

'Was that fun?' Jesse asked me, scolding me, running up to pop the hood. Smoke billowed out and the crowd laughed..

'Yeah, was that fun?' Brian whispered in my ear.

'What are you smiling about?' Dom asked me curiously.

'Man, I almost had you', I said pointing over at him.

'**You** almost had **me**?' he repeated mockingly pointing over at me, then himself. 'You never had me. You never had your car!' Dom told me, the crowd listening closely around us, commenting whenever Dominic was close enough, trying desperately to be noticed and cool. 'Granny shifting, not double clutchin' like you should', Dom told me circling the car. 'You're lucky that hundred-shot of NOS didn't blow the welds on the intake. Almost had **me**?' He questioned a guy in the crowd laughingly, pointing at his chest.

'Now me and the mad scientist, gotta rip apart the block and replace the piston rings you fried', shutting the hood, he continued, 'Ask any racer, and real racer. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winnings, winning', Dom told me the crowd cheering around him. That was when the cry went out, cops were on their way everyone racing for their cars. I wasn't too worried as I slid into my car and started it again pulling away. I watched Brian run for his car and pull away too. I picked up my phone and dialed one, his number popped up onto the screen.

'What?' he shouted into the phone.

'Call me when your safe, I'll meet up with you', I shouted before hanging up, hoping he was smart enough to at least put his phone into his pocket so he didn't lose it.

I raced off; kind of following Dom before I noticed he was kind of being tailed, and then I turned off and no one followed me. I took the back streets and followed the direction Dom was heading. I lost him until I spotted him on foot on the street trying to out run the cops. I went for it slipping past the cops and coming to a stop in front of him in an alleyway.

'Get in!' I told him. He slid in and I sped away, Dom clutching the handle in the seat beside me. I turned down a street, not really noticing the two oncoming cop cars. Dom shifted in his seat and held his hand out in front of him, obviously not used to the fact that somebody else was driving.

'Whoa, whoa!' Dom yelled from beside me. I laughed, the cars spinning around to block my way as I moved to slip past them. 'Whoa!' he exclaimed again, just proving to me he was always a driver. I slipped past the cars leaving them behind. 'You're the last person in the world I expected to show up', Dom told me as I turned a corner and slowed down.

'Yeah, well, I thought if I got in your good graces, you might let me keep my car', I smiled, looking at him from the corner of my eye.

'You are in my good graces, but you ain't keepin' your car', he answered with a smooth face. 'You drive like you've done this before. What're you a wheel man?'

'No', I told him.

'You boost cars?' he asked.

'No. Never', I lied. I had gotten into it when Brian came to stay back home for a little while.

'Ever done time?' he asked me.

'Couple of overnighters, no big deal', I replied, lying.

'What about the two years in Juvie for boostin' cars, with your brother?' Dom asked me. I looked at him completely forgetting to keep my eyes on the road, before turning back and tapping the steering wheel with my thumb. 'Hah. Tucson, right? Yeah, I had Jesse run a profile on you, Jude Lee Spilner. He'll find anything on the Web, anything about anybody. So why bullshit?' he asked me.

'So what about you?' I asked him, side-stepping his question.

'Two years in Lompoc, I'll die before I go back', He replied gravely. I nodded as I stared at the road, more worried about how much of my past history Jesse dug up on me for Dom.

'Oh, great', he muttered, sitting down lower in his seat.

'What?' I asked him before I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the bikes.

'It's gonna be a long-ass night, that's what', he muttered.

I counted six or seven bikes surrounding the car, one of the Asian bikers rode up beside me and tapped my door with a semi-automatic.

'Follow us', he shouted. Led into a parking lot with big Chinese architecture and statues, we pulled up and stepped out. The bikers pulled off their helmets and the leader – or who seemed to be the leader – stepped forward and addressed Dom as if they were old friends or enemies.

'I thought we had an agreement. You stay away. I stay away. Everybody stays happy', he said, walking further towards the car, more on Dom's side, which lead me to believe they were old…acquaintances.

'We got lost Johnny. What do you want me to tell you?' Dom answered him calmly.

'Whose we?' Johnny asked him, turning to look at me.

'Uh, my new mechanic, Jude, meet Johnny Tran. That guy in the snakeskin pants, that's his cousin, Lance', Dom said, causing me to tilt my head slightly and look at Dom, before looking back at "Johnny". 'So when are you going to give me a shot at that Honda 2000 of yours?' Dom asked him.

'This your ride?' Johnny asked walking towards me, obviously not hearing Dom's question. I started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

'It was. It's his now', I said, almost telling him it was till I remembered the stupid mistake I had made.

'No, it's not. I haven't taken delivery', Dom replied, looking at me sternly.

'Then it's nobody's car', Johnny stated, I feeling very, very uncomfortable that my was now classed as "unclaimed", though still, I had never been in a situation like this, so I just followed Dom. 'Somebody put in the wrench time', Johnny commented. I felt like screaming out my unvoiced answer, but decided upon it, not to, for the sake of my life at least. 'What do you think Lance?'

'It's an amazing machine', Lance replied, stepping forward slight, his semi automatic held high, aimed at Dom.

'Yes, indeed, it is', Johnny agreed. I started to shake slightly and glanced over at Dom who didn't look at me. 'Lets go', Johnny finally said patting Dom on the arm. 'I'll see you in the desert next month. Be ready to have your ass handed to you', He warned Dom.

'Yeah, you're gonna need more then that crotch rocket', Dom scoffed.

'I got something for you', Johnny told him before putting his helmet on. I watched them leave shaking more than necessary before looking over at Dom who I found to be already looking at me.

'What the hell was that all about?' I asked him, almost ready to shout

'Long story, I'll tell you later. Lets get outta here', Dom told me, opening the door and getting ready to sit down in the seat. Johnny and his cousin returned, both of them lifting their guns before firing at the car. Dom and I stepped backwards, shielding our eyes. I stepped forward as they rode off ready to run after them before I looked over at my car and almost started crying.

'NOS!' Dom shouted as I ran backwards. I landed on the pavement as the car blew up, the NOS finally totaling my car.

'So, what the hell was that all about?' I shouted at Dom again as we began to walk away.

'It's a long story', he repeated as if that would satisfy my curiosity and stop me from asking.

'Well, we got a twenty-mile hike. Humor me', I answered his statement angrily.

'A business deal that went sour', Dom replied. 'Plus I made the mistake of sleeping with his sister'.

'They all sleep with the sister', I scoffed before I pulled out my mobile.

'What's up?' Brian answered on the other end.

'Where are you?' I asked him; as Dom and I continued walking down the middle of the road, traffic going right passed us.

'Home. Where are you?' Brian asked, obviously sitting forward, as I heard the couch make a funny noise.

'Some main road, uh, you're not going to be to happy when you find out what happened, but, uh, we would appreciate the lift?' I asked hopefully.

'Uh, you gotta go, my sister needs some help', I heard him whisper in the background, he never was good at covering the mouth piece.

'Well, is he coming or what?' Dom asked, coming up right beside me. Even after all the stuff he did tonight, he still smelt strong of cologne and I was drowning in it.

'Brian man, don't worry about it, I'll walk home, it's not far', I muttered into the phone before I hung up on him. 'No', I answered stepping away from him, I swear, if I sniffed anymore of that cologne I was going to jump on him.


	2. Chapter 2

'Take care', I muttered heading down the path way, I had just reached the beginning of the other house when…

'Yo, Spilner', Dom called out, I turned to look at him, 'You want a beer?'

'Yeah sure!' I nodded, as I walked back, heading up the stairs and entering the house after Dom. I felt like I had just walked into a house full of mass murderers that I had put in Jail. Vince was in the corner playing an awesome guitar, and Letty was lying on the floor playing a game. Dom took his jacket off in front of me, and I stared, I couldn't help myself.

'Yo, Dom. Hey man, we were just about to go looking for you, brother', Leon stated as Dom knocked the beer out of his hand.

'Where were you?' Dom asked walking up to Vince in the corner.

'There were mass cops there; they came in from every direction. There shit was orchestrated!' Vince exclaimed.

'This your beer?' Dom asked, pointing at the beer beside him.

'Yeah that's my beer', Vince answered, as Dom picked it up and walked away.

'Yo, Einstein, take it up stairs', Dom stated as he disturbed Jesse making out with some chick, 'You can't detail a car with the cover on', he walked off, 'Can't even get that right'.

'You all right?' asked Letty. I knew Letty and Dom was an item, so I was trying desperately not to be…disturbed by the whole caring notion.

'Am I alright?' Dom stated angrily stepping towards her.

'It was just a question', she said simply.

'Yo, Dom', Vince called from the corner, 'Why'd you bring the buster here?' Dom had walked further towards me, beers in hand.

'Because the buster kept me out of handcuffs, She didn't just run back to the fort! The buster brought me back', Dom shouted. He walked towards me, arms outspread a beer in each hand, and 'You can have any brew you want, as long as it's a Corona'.

'Thanks, man', I muttered, taking the beer from his right hand.

'That's Vince's. So enjoy it', Dom stated, as I smiled. I didn't know what Vince had against me, maybe it was because of my brother, but I enjoyed taking my shirt, washing his spit from just inside and outside of the top and taking a delectable sip.

'Hey, you got a bathroom?' I asked him, nudging his arm a little. I was a little short than him, maybe a head or two shorter, so it was slightly hard to fit in with the whole "Yo, Bro" thing.

'Yeah, upstairs, first door to your right', Dom answered, still staring down Vince with a slight smile.

'Yeah, so what girls are here?' Dom asked, waving his hands around to emphasis his point.

'You name it. You want mine?' Leon asked.

'You need to shut the hell…' Letty started as Leon was still talking till he shut up and walked off.

'You don't have anything?' Dom smiled at Leon.

'You look a bit tired, I think you should go upstairs and give me a massage', Letty stated simply, taking his hands.

'Look at all our guests', Dom pointed out.

'How about we go up stairs and you give me a massage', Letty stated a little harder as Dom gave in with a smile and slung his arm around her, heading to the stairs just as I came down them.

'Yo', Dom stated, leaning against the start of the railing, his arm still around Letty, 'You know you owe me a ten second car right?'

'Oh…shit', Letty laughed as they headed upstairs. I turned back to the party to find, Leon, Vince and Jesse already to have a rumble.

'Oh. So you waste your time fighting with a girl, eh? And you need three people, against little old me?' I teased, not smiling at all. If they wanted to go, I'd fight till all my bones were broken.

'Did you wipe the seat?' Vince sneered. My eyes fell to shiny gun on the table surround and covered by chips.

'Oh, Jesus Christ. Would you cut the shit, already, come on!' Mia shouted, pushing Vince away. I sighed thankfully, releasing the breath I didn't know I was holding.

'Come on, let's go get a drink', Mia muttered pulling me away.

'Aw, come on, man, we were just about to get it on', Leon whined as Mia and I disappeared.

'You know my brother likes you. He usually doesn't like anybody', Mia told me as I poured her a cold drink.

'Yeah, he's a complicated guy', I told her with a smile.

'What about you?' Mia asked me.

'I'm simpler', I told her laughing slightly.

'You're a shitty liar', Mia told her with a chuckle. 'But there is a problem'.

'What's that?' I asked after draining my beer and sitting down on a chair.

'You need to get some sleep. And you definitely, definitely need a shower', Mia told me and I laughed.

'Come on, I'll take you home', Mia told me.

* * *

'Brian, cops', I whispered as we were driving down the freeway in a Racer's Edge Ute.

'Show me your hands', the cops said as we did just that, 'Very good, now open the door', they said as we opened the door and stepped out, 'Hands on your head, behind your head', we did that too, 'Now face the front of the vehicle and walk backwards towards the rear'.

Brian was handcuffed and the cop that wasn't handcuffing pretended to write me a ticket when in fact it was just a rendezvous point for me to go and pick up Brian. I nodded, walked back, closed my door and walked around the front to get into the drivers seat.

* * *

I got to haul a car to the garage, walking around after I backed it in.

'All right, what the hell is this? What do you got here?' Dom asked leaning on an arm against the wall.

'This is your car', I told him motioning to wreck on the haul truck.

'My car?' Dom replied surprised, pointing to his chest, Red Bull in hand. 'I said a ten-second car not a ten-minute car'.

'You could push this across the finish line, or tow it', Jesse told them making Mia, Dom and Letty laugh.

'Couldn't even tow that across the finish line', Dom laughed as I sighed happily.

'No faith', I laughed, causing everybody to laugh again.

'Oh, I have faith in you, but this isn't a junkyard. _This is a garage_', Dom told me, pointing at me, still the red bull in hand.

'Hey, pop the hood', I told Jesse smiling; knowing what they found in there would shock them.

'Pop the hood?' Dom questioned, and I nodded.

'Pop the hood'; I retaliated. The hood was popped with crowbars and Jesse smirked.

'2 J.Z. engine, no shit', Jesse laughed, peaking further under the hood.

'And what did I tell you?' I pointed at Dom, waiting for him to apologize.

'I retract my previous statement', Dom nodded, holding the crow bar.

'You know what? This will decimate all _after_ you put about 15 grand in it, or more. If we have to, overnight parts from Japan', Jesse told us, bowing as soon as he said Japan.

'We'll put it on my tab at Harry's', Dom told Jesse.

'Yes!' Jesse exclaimed happily.

'I got to get you racing again so I can make some money off your ass', Dom told me pointing at me with the crowbar. 'There's this show down in the desert called Race Wars and that's where you'll do it', He walked off into the garage. I watched him walk off, trying hard not to think too much into him talking about my ass.

'I'll tell you what. When you're not working' at your job, wait, where do you work?' Dom asked.

'I don't have a job'; I answered honestly. I had been living off the money my parents had sent out after they won the lotto.

'You work here. If you can't find the right tool in this garage, Miss Arizona, you don't belong near a car', he nodded, as I smiled. I now have a job, Brian has a job, and we're set for life.

'He owns you now', Mia told me. I smirked to myself.

* * *

The next day, Brian pulled a few strings at Racer's edge and let me borrow the truck to haul the car parts to the garage so we could get started on the car.

The same day, Dom, Leon, Jesse and I were eating lunch outside on the car we had all been working on. We had sandwiches and beers all of us hungry and dirty we all didn't care though, we were just relaxing.

The guys were all topless; here I am trying not to stare at Dom who was sitting way to far away from me to be enjoying the lunch break. He was rather sexy, all sweaty and half naked. Jesse sitting on the back behind them while Leon sat on the ground leaning up on the side. I was in my baggy jeans and beside the fact that I really hate showing more skin than is really necessary I was sitting in my bra. It was hot and the tank top was way to clingy.

They were all just sitting around relaxing in the breeze flowing through and talking shit. Dom brought up the subject of first time drivers and when we all had driven for the first time.

'I was like five years old. I was sittin' on my fathers lap. And he's got me propped up and both my hands are on the steering wheel. And he kept goin' faster and faster. I remember hearin' him laughing, the faster we went the happier he was', Dom told us, myself smiling.

'How old were you again?' Jesse asked him.

'Five', Dom smiled in remembrance.

'My moms taught me how to drive'; Leon shared with us.

'Your moms?' Dom asked staring down at him.

'Yeah man. That was right before she left though', Leon muttered. 'You know, hate her for that but I can't hate her completely. You know?'

'First time I drove, it was on my learners permit. We were on the 40 Freeway, my mother and I. Car in front of me locks up its breaks', I said mimicking the sound. 'Then boom! Someone blew into me from behind. Five car pile up, first time I drove'. I couldn't help but smile.

'Before my dad went away. He bought me this uh, '71 Malibu classic the first day I got my license it was the greatest day. It was also the first day that I had sex', Jesse laughed, beating us all hands down. I laughed with the guys at that one, Leon sounding very impressed. 'I shit you not', Jesse assured us.

'Somethin' about learning how to drive. Like-it's you're a driver or you're not a driver. So up until the point you start driving is one lifetime and then after you start driving is another lifetime', Dom explained. I couldn't exactly say the same, because my life has been the same no matter when I started driving

'Tell me what you think about this', Jessie asked me cigarette in hand while they sat in the office in the garage loading the computer with a floppy disk. 'Koni adjustables. Gonna save us about two pounds. And they're gonna give us better traction for the hole shot. All right? This is your basic layout of the car, and that's _pretty_ much what it could look like when it's finished. Red, green', Jesse muttered mucking around with the buttons on the computer.

'Man, you should be goin' to M.I.T. or somethin'', I smiled at him as he nodded his head before shaking it.

'Yeah, right', He laughed. 'No, I got that…Oh what's it called? That attention disorder…' Jesse mumbled, shaking his hand trying to think of the problem he had.

'Oh, A.D.D.?' I asked.

'**Yes**, that _shit_. Yeah. You know, I was good in algebra…and like math and shit. Everything else I failed. Dropped out of school. I don't know. It's just somethin' about engines…that-that calms me down, you know?' Jesse explained to her.

* * *

The next day found me outside the house with Dom by the BBQ beer in hand. Vince, Leon and Letty were at the store and didn't exactly know I was here, so I was a little tense as they pulled up.

'I'm outta here', Vince said handing over his bags when he saw me. What had I done that was so bad to him?

'Come on, dog', Leon said taking his bags.

'What're you talkin' about?' Letty asked.

'Yo, Dom', Leon said calling his attention to Vince.

'Vince, get over here and give us a hand', Dom called out to him.

'Looks like you got all the help you need, Brother', Vince replied angrily getting into his car and speeding away. I felt totally uncomfortable, not that I was made to feel that way.

I helped Mia to carry all the dishes and cutlery outside while Dom stood by the BBQ cooking the chicken. It smelled great and looked better as it was sat in the middle of the table. We were all sitting around after Jesse saying grace just about to eat when Vince showed.

'Look who it is. Ol' Coyote's are us; I thought you weren't hungry, pumpkin?' Leon asked as Vince ambled his way.

'You know, I gotta eat', Vince replied.

'All right, sit down', Dom told him motioning to the table. He walked up behind Dom kissing the top of his baldhead affectionately while Dom cast a glance his way. I glanced away suddenly feeling uncomfortable but less guilty at least.

I hung out in the kitchen helping Mia clean up drying the stuff she washed and putting it away. I was working on the stack of plates when Mia stepped out to pick up the rest of the trash from the table. Dom stepped in and started washing some dishes, not saying a word to me, which kind of made me really uncomfortable.

'So…' I started, rolling back on my heels before I headed over to the cupboard to place the stack of plates away.

'I don't know you', he said simply, as I nodded.

'No, you don't, that's true, but I don't know you either', I added, placing a cup in the top cupboard.

'How do I know I can trust you? How do I know you won't stab me in the back or hurt my family?' It was a rhetorical question, so I didn't bother answering.

'Your starting to sound a bit like a girl Dom', I started, before draping the tea towel over my right shoulder and leaning against the bench. 'You don't know whether I'm gunna do all that, but you don't know how much hanging out with your family, means to me'.

'Why, what's so wrong with your home?' he asked, turning to me, arms crossed, hands dripping from the suds.

'Because home was unstable, and coming here with Brian was my only option', I told him sounding calmer then I would've normally been.

'Unstable?' He asked me.

'Yeah, parent's getting involved with a mob and all shit just hit the fan basically', I said smiling slightly. We stood in silence for a while I stared at Dom, not sure whether I should tell him about my school girl crush on him, or to just stand here and wait for Mia to come back.

I headed over to the fridge to get another beer, and that was when Mia walked in, ceasing the now awkward situation.

* * *

I went to Harry's working the counter for Brian while he was setting himself up at home. I wasn't there too long when Hector came in the door followed by a few other groupies. Hector greeted Harry before spotting me by the counter obviously surprised walking over to me alone.

'Damn what have we got here? Hired some new help huh?' Hector joked.

'Don't even think about it', I told him with a smile moving forward.

'Oh, all right. Like that. What's up, Spilner? How you feeling?' Hector asked as I smiled and gave him a quick hug.

'Pretty good. So what's up? What do you need?' I asked him.

'What's up, man, I'm gonna need you to hook me up. Three of everything, I made a list', He told me digging it out and handing it over. 'Why don't you look that over?'

'When do you need this stuff by?' I asked him moving to face the computer.

'Tomorrow, today, now', Hector told me in a stern voice.

'Right', I replied smiling.

'Come on man, white girls work fast don't they?' He asked jokingly. 'Beto, _pasa le feria_, homes. That's right', Hector said to one of his friends who handed him a roll of cash.

'Hey, you said you need three of all this stuff?' I asked him realizing what a haul he was asking for.

'Yeah, three of everything. What do you think about that? Check this out', Hector asked waving the cash at me. I smiled awkwardly.


	3. Chapter 3

I realized I had trouble and once the new girl relieved me, I headed towards Hectors garages. I hated breaking in, but I needed to know what he was really packing before race wars.

It was rather easy to break inside the place as I looked around, checking under the hoods. From what I saw, I was going to have my work cut out for me at Race Wars. I had just slipped out and came to a stop on the ground when I was struck in the back of the head the force of the blow smacking me face first into the wall I had just come down from.

I was starting to come round as I was dragged by the back of my jacket until I was dropped roughly. I glanced up and got even more confused at the sight of Vince with a shotgun pointed down in my direction.

'She moans like a cop', Vince stated and that was when Dom appeared from the shadows. He had an angry cold look on his face and that told me I was in for it.

'Jude, this is one of those times when you need to be very clear about what you say', Dom told me. 'Nod if you understand me'.

'Nod!' Vince screamed at me when I didn't answer fast enough for him, getting ready to hit me with the butt of the gun again, so I nodded.

'Sit up', Dom told me sternly. Eyes on Vince and his gun I sat up slowly head pounding. 'Tell me what the hell you're doing down here', He ordered her.

'What I'm doing?' I repeated, just to be clear getting poked in the head by the gun. 'Dom, I owe…I owe you a ten-second car. And what this is about, this is about Race Wars', I said getting poked roughly with the gun again. 'I just went in there and Hector is gonna be runnin' three Honda Civics with Spoon engines. And on top of that, he just came into Harry's today and he ordered three T-66 turbos, with NOS and a MoTeC system exhaust', I explained to him.

'So what are you saying? You're going to go around and check everybody's shit out, one garage after another?' He asked me.

'Yeah', I told him slowly coming to my feet. 'Because Dom, you know…I can't lose again'.

'She's a cop', Vince told Dom. 'She's a cop!' He repeated heatedly.

'You a cop?' Dom asked taking a few steps towards me and I scoffed at the question.

'No', I told him simply.

'Let's go for a little ride', Dom told me after giving me a look before walking past me.

'Walk!' Vince said pushing me forward.

Before I knew it we were at the last Garage of the night, Trans', when we got company. Dom pulled me behind a car with him just as Tran and his crew pulled inside. A man was pulled out of one of the cars I had a feeling he wasn't there for tea and cupcakes. That was when I noticed Dom's handgun and Vince's, not sure if I felt better.

'Let me ask you a question Ted', Johnny said to the man held at gunpoint. 'Do you see anything wrong here?'

'No', the fat man stated. Johnny grabbed him and began to shove him head first into the empty engine carriage.

'We got no engine's do we?' Johnny yelled angrily. I was really beginning to have seconds thoughts about the whole move to L.A. right about then. I thought the whole guns thing was a stereotype, but no. 'Do we?' Johnny repeated as he pushed his head in.

'No!' Ted cried answering the question.

'Do we?' Johnny repeated.

'No!' Ted repeated before finally getting pulled backwards, only to land heavily on his back.

'Couple of Nissan S.R.-twenty motors will pull a premium one week before Race Wars, huh?' Johnny asked him.

'Probably', Ted replied.

'You're a smart fence, Ted. Maybe too smart. What are you feelin' Lance? Forty weight? Fifty weight?' Johnny asked his cousin taking off his leather jacket.

'A forty weight sounds nice', Lance answered. A moment later Johnny had Ted pinned to the ground and the lube hose in his face, practically in his mouth. Lance pumped it while Johnny made sure the man was practically drowning in the stuff. I wasn't exactly the toughest of people, and I was seriously beginning to get freaked out. I buried my head into Dom's arm as he reached around and pulled me into him, now burying my head into his chest.

'Where are they Ted? Where are they?' Johnny asked him.

'Enough!' Ted gasped.

'Where are they?' Johnny repeated.

'There in a warehouse. There in a warehouse, man!' Ted cried from his position as best he could with the hose in his mouth and all. Johnny finally let him up looking disheveled as he tried to clean himself up with a rag.

'Ted. Kiss my shoes?' Johnny asked him though it wasn't really a question, or a suggestion it was an order. Slowly the man who was coughing on his hands and knees gathered himself enough to crawl towards Johnny with Lance waving his gun in encouragement. As soon as he lowered his face to kiss his shoes he was kicked Johnny knocking him backwards.

'Let's go get our engines', Johnny said throwing the rag on Ted standing and making for his ride. I turned away from Dom to watch. Feeling cold as we left, the three of them making their way out wordlessly. Dom had Leon take Brian's car back home, I was stuck accepting Dom's ride after we got to the house.

I sat in silence next to him, trying to absorb everything that had happened today. It was another long day for me and I had a feeling the next few days weren't going to calm down. I was pissed off about what had happened and I tried desperately not to let it all come out right now.

'How's your head?' Dom asked from beside me.

'Fine', I replied sarcastically.

'What's wrong?' he asked, taking a corner rather sharply.

'You want to be able to trust me? How the fuck am I supposed to trust you if you get Vince to go and do all that shit to me. I've got an egg on my head the size of Australia', I sneered rubbing my head as he pulled up at my house. I didn't bother asking why or how he knew where I lived, but I just got out and slammed the door.

'Meet me at the garage tomorrow. We've got work to do on that ten second car you owe me', Dom sighed as I turned around, nodded and headed inside.

'I'm so sorry, Brian', I whispered, as I laid down on the bed beside him.

'Don't worry about it', he yawned, rolling over to face me. 'I missed you'.

'Same here, bro, same here', I yawned as he just kissed my forehead and fell asleep, as did I.

* * *

'Got big plan's tonight?' Mia asked Dom, as I was installing the grill on the car and Mia was asking Dom about the stickers on the side.

'Yeah, I'm going out to dinner', Dom nodded, as Mia's eye's glared.

'Break her heart', Mia threatened, 'I'll break your neck'.

'That's not going to happen', he sighed, and walking passed her, he stood behind me.

Later that night found Dom and myself at Cha, Cha, Cha, drinking a beer each.

'So how is that the gang came to be?' I asked him as he laughed.

'What?' he smiled.

'The gang!' I answered, putting my beer down on the table and crossing my arms while leaning forward.

'The gang? No, they don't call themselves a gang', Dom laughed at me, taking another swig of beer before copying my earlier movements.

'Well, what do they call themselves?' I smiled wider as he laughed at me.

'They're a team', he said, picking up his beer and leaning back in his chair, 'We call ourselves a team'.

'All right, then, how did the team come to be?' I asked, leaning back, arms still crossed, but I grabbed my beer.

'Well, that's—that's just a whole lot of history', he laughed as I smiled.

'If I have to force us to take another twenty mile hike, I will', I joked as he smiled.

'Do you want to go for a drive?' he asked, swigging the rest of his beer, I doing the same before we both got up and left the place. We hadn't eaten yet, but we both decided we weren't hungry.

I guess this time was the time for me to hold the 'oh shit' handle on my side of the car. I gripped it tightly as he did sharp turns to change our direction on the freeway.

'Whoa!' I exclaimed as he almost hit a car in the process.

* * *

'Are you ready for this?' Letty addressed Jesse as I started the car. She purred like a kitten, which is why I guess Jesse was patting the hood.

'Bye, bye', I smiled as I drove off out of the Garage and onto the main highway. We pulled up at some lights, a car beside us.

'Hey buddy, what's the retail on one of those?' I shouted out to the guy in the car beside us, smiling at the girl beside him.

'More than you can afford, Pal. Ferrari', he smirked as I sneered. Dom turned to me.

'Smoke him', he muttered as I nodded and looked back to the road. Revving my engine just as the light turned green, I hightailed it on out of there.

Weaving around traffic I managed to get a little a head of him, till I had to swerve to miss a car to which the guy took the opportunity to over take me. That was an easy overtake, so I swerved around one car and passed him.

Slowing down I pulled into the car park of Neptune's Net. We got out, a lot of girls whistling at him, and it didn't worry me. I wasn't "with" Dom, was I? I didn't need to be over protective. We walked inside and Dom put his arm around my waist as we went up and ordered. It didn't take long before we were sitting down and I was rather quiet.

'So what's wrong, Jude?' he asked me as I picked at my shrimp.

'Nothing, man, I'm fine', I answered as Dom sighed.

'Come on. Obviously something's off', he tried again, taking off his sunglasses.

'Look, I have my good days and bad days, just like anybody else', I answered, annoyed that he wouldn't take "I'm Fine" for an answer.

'Jude, don't lose that cool of yours. That's your meal ticket', Dom replied, leaning on the table.

'My meal ticket?' I asked rather annoyed, 'I can't pay for my own shrimp?'

'I got the shrimp', Dom said coolly, picking some off of the tray.

'No, see, that's one thing about me, Dom, you don't understand', I snapped back, 'I don't need handouts. I don't take handouts. I earn my way, every step'. Now was the time to for a step forward for Brian and my assignment. 'I just gotta make something extra on the side like you'.

'What do you mean, like me?' Dom asked defensively, 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'That's what I mean', I answered, not even making sense to myself.

'What does that mean, like me?' he tried again, as I got angry.

'Don't try— I'm not stupid, all right?' I started, 'I know that there is no way you paid for all that shit you got under that hood…' Dom quieted me. 'I know there's no way in hell you paid for all that shit that's under the hood of those cars by doing tune-ups and selling groceries'. I paused, thinking of what to say next. 'Now, whatever it is you're in on, I want in on it, too'.

He just sat there and stared at me. Just stared, nothing else. He looked like he was going to kill me for a second, until he lightened up. He was taking a chance here…and I knew it. He leant with his left hand on the table and used his right to pull out a piece of paper from his left breast pocket. I took it off of him and opened it up.

'What is this?' I asked seriously.

'Read it', he said simply, not a happy, but simply.

'What is this for?' I asked.

'It's directions', he muttered, eating some more shrimp, 'To race wars', he paused, 'we'll see how you do. Then we'll talk'.

* * *

It was in the middle of the desert basically. Racers came from everywhere just to be there. I was pulling up to the security at gate 9.

'How's it going bro?' I asked, as he leaned down to talk to me.

'What's up, man', he said handing me a slip of paper, 'Welcome to race wars'.

'Great, thanks a lot', I smiled before revving it up and pulling inside. I drove a little while till I found a spot to park. I started heading in the direction of the team trailers when Jesse almost smacked me with the door.

'What's up?' he said rather enthusiastically.

'Hey, what's up, Jesse?' I smiled following him looking at the slip of paper in his hand, 'What do you have in your hand?'

'Throwing down the pink slip, just like you', he said happily as we headed for the car line up.

'The pink slip to what? The Jetta?' I asked, rather curious now.

'Yeah', he said, not phased at all by my tone.

'You can't bet your dad's car', I said sternly.

'It's all right', he said, reassuring me, 'I ain't losing'. The next part he added scared me more than it should of. 'This fool is running a Honda 2000', we were still heading to the car line up, Jesse still not being deterred from his path. 'I'll win. That way, me and my dad can roll when he gets out of prison. It's all good'.

'Well, they're gunna throw him right back in prison after he kills you', I tried once more, but he just swore and jogged for his car. Leon was pulling it up to the starting line for him.

'You visualize the win. Hey, visualize the win Jesse. I'm serious. You got to listen to me man', Leon muttered as he closed the door once Jesse was in.

'Who you racing?' I asked, not really sure I wanted to know. The window of the Honda 2000 came down and I almost had a heart attack. Johnny Tran. Leaning down I looked through the open passenger window of Jesse's car. 'Jesse, don't do it. I bet you he's got more than $100,000 under the hood of that car'.

'Uhuh', Jesse mumbled. He wasn't listening to me, at all.

The race to the finish line was on. They were neck to neck the basis of the way until Jesse hit up his shot of NOS. he was going to win. Tran hit his shot of NOS and over took him just before the finish line. Jesse shot through the turn off for where everybody else was and shot through.

The next thing I knew everybody was cheering and I saw Johnny Tran's car. I ran over, and pushed through the crowd, Dom was punching the shit out of Tran. Letty doing a fairly good job on Lance, Tran's cousin.

'I never narked on nobody', Dom was shouting as I finally broke through the line of security. 'I never narked on nobody'.


	4. Chapter 4

Night had fallen and everybody was partying except me. I couldn't find the team anywhere, and I knew no one. It wasn't until I saw Mia arguing with Dom that I knew something was up.

'I have respected you, and I haven't said shit', she yelled, 'And now I am asking you not to go'.

'I'm doing this for both of us'; he tried to calm her down.

'No, No, don't give me that crap. You're doing this for you. Why are you insisting on doing this? Dom, please, don't, just don't', Mia shouted, 'you've got Jude here, and she knows jack shit about what you do, you'll be screwing up her life too, Dom'. He didn't listen. He got into his car and drove off with Letty, Vince and Leon in tow.

'Mia', I called out as I ran after her, 'What's going on?'

'What?' she said in a monotone.

'You know what I'm talking about', I stated, getting rather angry, that earlier she had used me as an excuse for Dom not to go, and now she's ignoring me.

'No, Jude', she said angrily.

'Oh, do you always have tears in your eyes when Dom drives away?' I asked, as she started shaking me off.

'What's the matter with you?' she asked, angrily and annoyed.

'Come on, what's your brother racing off in the middle of the night for?' I asked, honestly, no smile, no emotion shown, 'I'm talking about the trucks, and do you know about the trucks?'

'No, Jude, what trucks?' she shouted, 'Jesus Christ…' I grabbed her arm, 'What?'

'Listen to me', I started, trying to figure out how to say this, 'Brian's a cop, Mia, and so am I'.

'What are you talking about, Jude?' she muttered trying to push my arm away, 'What is this?'

'Ever since the first time that I met you, I've been undercover. Brian too', this was hurting me as well. These people had helped me through everything, and I had betrayed everything sacred to them.

'Oh, you asshole', she said gravely, 'You asshole', she said getting angrier. She stormed off, but I couldn't let her go. I grabbed her arms and turned her around.

'Mia…' I tried.

'Get off of me, Jude', she shouted, hitting me.

'Mia, listen to me!' I shouted angrily, 'everything I ever said to you, and everything I felt for Dom, was real. I swear to god, you have to believe me, Mia. But right now this isn't about you and me, your brother's out there, he's about to pull a job and we're running out of time', I explained, 'Those truckers, they're not laying down anymore, maybe they'll make it through tonight, but every single law enforcement agency in California is coming down on them', I paused, 'If you don't want anything to happen to them, to your brother, to Letty, to Leon, to Vince, you have to just get in that car with me right now, you have to help me'. I studied her face, she was concerned I was lying and she was worried beyond belief that I was telling the truth, 'Mia, you are the only person that can help me right now, please Mia, please help me'. She nodded.

We jumped into my car and we took the fastest route out of the partying people to the freeway. I drove as fast as I could with Mia sitting in the passenger seat with a map.

'The Civics are stashed somewhere outside of Thermal', she muttered. I began to piece things in my head.

'They wouldn't double back, and highway 10 is too well patrolled, so what does that leave us with?'

'That leaves us with all this', she said confused. I picked up my mobile and dialed in the Nextel number.

'Nextel?' the lady on the phone muttered.

'Yeah, this is Officer Jude O'Connor, serial number 34762. I need a cell phone trace', I said into the phone hastily as I heard a click and then the voice came back again.

'Ok, what's the cell number?' the lady asked as I looked from the road to Mia then back to the road.

'Mia, what's his cell phone number?' I asked her, phone still at me ear, 'Come on Mia, she needs Dom's cell phone number now'.

'323-555-6439', she said angrily into the phone, not taking her eyes off of me the whole time. She handed the phone back to me as soon as she had finished.

'Yeah, you get that?' I asked the lady and she said yes and I hung up.

We were speeding along maybe five minutes later down the highway and my cell phone rung.

'Yeah?' I shouted into the phone.

'Ok, we traced the number to the northbound 86. Mile 114, outside Coachella. We'll keep the trace open officer', she said as I hung up on her and got a vision. I snatched the map off of Mia.

'Let me see this', I said as I looked at it, still going over a hundred. I looked from the map to the road constantly before I could calculate where bout's we were. 'Alright, we're about forty miles away'.

'What are you gonna do?' Mia asked me as I panicked. I could ask myself the same thing. 'What are you gonna do?'

* * *

It was fully light now as I saw the truck in the distance and the three jet-black cars racing around it. The truck was swerving a lot, that must of meant that they had tried already. I watched the car on the left, swerve wide before disappearing under the truck and coming out the other side. I swore at what happened next. The car had clipped the trucks outer tire and was spun out of control. It rolled and landed on it's roof. I watched another black car swerve round and drop back to help. It was Leon and Letty. Letty looked pretty banged up, but we couldn't stop as we sped passed. 

Dom's car ahead started smoking, the truckers shot gun had hit it. Dom stopped on the side of the high way and we sped passed again, replacing Dominic at the side of the truck. I was looking at the road and the truck as I tried to un do the roof of the car. I got it and it flew backwards a surge of wind sucked in.

'Here take the wheel', I shouted, determined to get Vince of the truck.

'What do you mean take the wheel?' Mia shouted back shocked as I was focusing on how to get out of the drivers seat.

'Take the wheel! Put your foot on the gas. I'm gunna get him, put your foot on the gas', I yelled louder as she slid into my seat and slid her foot on the gas.

'Okay! Okay!' she shouted as I was able to get up onto the drivers door.

'Come on!' I shouted, aiming for the side of the truck, 'Keep it steady'.

'I got it!' she shouted as I continued to line up my jump with the truck.

'All right, hold on Vince', I shouted as I stood up slightly on the door, a little shaky but still holding onto the window of the car. 'Hey, he's having a hard time holding on. Get me a little closer', I shouted down to her as she nodded and pulled slowly over.

'All right!' she shouted as I gathered my balance again.

'Closer!' I shouted standing up slightly again.

'I'm moving in', she shouted as I set my focus on jumping beside Vince.

'Hold it right there!' I shouted lining up my focus again before jumping. I managed to hold onto the door where the window was supposed to be, and steadied myself with the side mirror. After I got my balance I reached down and hauled Vince up, hoping he could hold himself up quickly so I was able to untangle the wire.

'You got to hang in here with my now', I shouted to him as I pulled him higher up. 'We'll get you off this thing. Give me your arm'. He was starting to fade from loss of blood I wasn't sure, I had to keep him awake. 'Vince!' I shouted, 'Vince, look at me, don't let go!' I untangled the wire for Vince's arm, straining to keep him on the drop and not dog meat underneath it.

'Come on, Vince! Throw this arm around me', I yelled as he tiredly threw his arm around me, with a little help. 'Come on Mia, Get closer', I shouted at her as she pulled in as close as she could get. 'Come on Vince! Here we go', I shouted as I chucked him onto the back of the car. I looked from Vince, to Mia and then to the driver, but I found him pointing the barrels of the shotgun at my head. I jumped just as he fired and Mia kept the car steady. The truck rammed the side of the car and we went spinning out of control.

I jumped down off the back and ran round to Vince's side of the car. Mia helped me heave him out into the middle of nowhere, where there was a little bit of space for us to tie him up. Dom, Leon and Letty pulled up moments later and rushed out to help.

'Come on, Vince! Hang in there! Come on!' I shouted, tying his belt around his arm to stop new blood from flowing to it. 'If we don't get him to an ambulance in ten minutes, he's dead', I exclaimed to Dom before I took a risk. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed in the Nextel number.

'Yeah. Yeah, this is officer Jude O'Connor. I'm off duty MAPD, I need a life flight roll out right away', I yelled into the phone, keeping my eyes on dom. The further I went into explaining he just kept getting angrier and angrier with me, preparing to stand up and beat the living shit out of me, even if I was a girl. 'My 20 is, uh, highway 86, mile marker 147', I continued as Dom continued to stand up. 'I got one Trauma victim, about twenty-four years of age. Six foot, maybe two hundred pounds'. I was now looking between Dom and Vince, as Vince seemed to be getting worse.

'He's got real deep lacerations to his right arm with arterial bleeding, and he's got uh, a shotgun wound, close range to his left flank', I continued to yell into the phone as Dom looked to Mia who was telling him not to. Dom was about to hit me. 'Yeah! Yeah he's going into shock!' I yelled as Dom turned his attention away from me and to the convulsing Vince.

I hung up the phone and it took about another 5 minutes after that for the chopper to arrive. I helped the medics lift Vince up onto the bed and into the chopper before turning my attention to the Torreto family. Dom was shouting at Mia for her to come with them, and she was fighting her intentions to stay for a second until she caved and jumped in the back seat with Letty. Dom looked out his window at me, giving a glare, before speeding off.

* * *

I screeched to a halt outside of Dom's house, only to see his fathers car out of the garage and Dom to walk out with a rifle in hand.

'Dom put the gun down now!' I shouted, pulling out my gun and kneeling behind my car, hands above the bonnet.

'Move your car', he sneered going to open the door of the car.

'No bullshit!' I shouted angrily, 'Put it down, no more running'.

'I'm not running', he shouted angrily taking a few steps towards me. I got up and walked round my open door and shut it with my right hand, left still holding the gun at Dom. He stormed down the driveway and came face to face with me.

'Where's Leon and Letty?' I asked, worried for the safety of people I had come to regard as family, even if they didn't like me.

'They're long gone!' he shouted as I huffed.

'Then it's over', I stated, now holding my gun with both my hands, 'I didn't call the police, but don't push me!' I shouted as he took another step forward. I walked further up the drive way to him, 'Put the gun down, I swear to god!'

'You are the cop', he shouted pointing at me harshly, 'You're a cop!' he sighed, thinking, 'Jude, I gotta find Jesse before they do. I'm all the kids got!'

'I'll call in the plates', I said calmly, still on my guard though, 'PD will pick him up way before Johnny even gets near him'. Dom cocked his rifle and I shoved my gun closer to him, just to emphasis I wasn't afraid to use it.

'More your car', he said calmly, totting the gun.

'Please!' Mia shouted from the porch.

'Mia, stay out of it', Dom shouted, not looking at her. 'Move your…' he started but a screech of wheels made him stop and myself turn around.

'Dominic, I am so sorry', Jesse shouted as he got out of his car, shaking. 'I don't know what I'm doing, Dom. I am so scared right now. I don't know what's going on'. Dom glared at me and threw his gun on the grass as he headed towards Jesse.

'Jess! What were you thinking, Man?' Dom shouted as Jesse took a deep breath.

'I don't know!' he started, 'I panicked! I'm sorry', he shouted. I turned away from Jesse as I heard two bikes coming up fast from my left. Jesse had continued to shout, but all I could focus on was the bikes.

'Dom!' I heard Mia cry out as the riders started firing at us, gunning down Jesse as they went. Dom scampered across the lawn like a crab as I fired one or two shots at them before looking down at Jesse. Dom looked at me angrily and I knew what he was going to do. I glared before jumping in my car and chasing after them.

I was coming up on them fast, and as soon as they saw that, they went faster. I was loosing them quicker than I was having them, so I hit a shot of NOS and was able to see them perfectly. Johnny Tran looked back and fired, I managed swerved the basis of the bullets and still follow them easily.

I leant out my window, firing at them as the right side of the rode sloped down. Tran's cousin jumped down the slope and reappeared behind me. I wasn't focused on him, I kept my sights on Tran, but checked back every now and then to see what he was doing. I saw Dom come up quickly on the road to my right and he swerved round behind me and caught Tran's cousin off guard.

I breathed easier as I followed Tran through a red light out into a slightly loaded intersection. I gaped as I noticed he was heading for the tunnel. So I swerved round and began to fire at his tires, hoping to hit one of them before he entered the tunnel. Score! Not his tires but Tran himself, he fell sideways and skidded to a halt against the stonewall of the tunnel.

Jumping out of my car I ran over to him to check his pulse, it was non-existent. A screech of tired pulled my mind away from that as I saw Dom's dad's car up the top of the hill. He revved the engine a few times before I actually got moving.

'Call 911!' I shouted, pointing at someone who had stopped, 'You, call 911!' I ran straight back to my car and got in before Dom had sped away. I was still able to follow him though. I followed him to Train intersection. He had paused at the red light a quarter of a mile away from the tracks. I pulled up beside him and stared at him. He didn't look back.

'I used to drag here back in high school', he stated to me as I looked from the tracks back to him. 'That railroad crossing up there is exactly a quarter of a mile away from here'. He looked at me. 'On green, I'm going for it'. It seemed as if he was looking to me for a reaction, but I didn't give him one. I just turned away and placed my hand gently on the gear stick, Dom doing the same.

Revving out engines we waited for the light to go green. And there it went. We started off, neck and neck and stayed that way. The pressure of the power start caused Dom's front end to pop up almost as if he was on a bike popping a wheelie. Dom shot out in front of me as he dropped back to four wheels, so I hit my shit of NOS to catch up. Boy did I ever.

We were neck and neck for the rest of the way. About five hundred meters from the track, the signals started flashing and the bells started ringing. Panic surged through my like the joy through a kid on Christmas, my thoughts were less than happy as I continued to stay neck and neck with Dom to the tracks. I chanced a glance out of the corner of my eye, only to whiteness Dom having a malfunction. Smoke started billowing from his engine, but he maintained his speed.

We smashed through the boom gates and came out just on front of the train. I closed my eyes at that very moment hoping I was able to survive to see my brother. The crash of the car against train never came as I opened my eyes and found we mad it. I turned to Dom and found him there too, but yelled out just as he ran up the side of a green truck. I ducked instinctively as he rolled over the top of my car. I screeched to a halt about ten meters away and ran to him.

'Dom!' I yelled running up to the driver's side window. I found him sitting there, hands still on the wheel, covered in his own blood, huffing and puffing.

'That's not what I had in mind!' he muttered, still huffing as he started to get out of the window. I helped him out and he fumbled his way to a standing position. We stood there awkwardly as police sirens sounded in the distance. I looked at him as he held his arm in pain and I was about to apologize, but then I acted upon and instinct.

I reached into my pocket with my left hand and dumped my keys into the left, before holding them out to Dom.

'You know what you're doing?' he asked me gravely as I nodded, face stone cold. He took the keys from my hand.

'I owe you a ten second car', I stated as he looked at me, nodding before he headed over to the car, got in and took off.

He knew in himself he could trust me.

Some how I had found my way back home. Brian wasn't there and I was sure why, but I wasn't really paying attention now. I had just aided and abetted someone that the LAPD were after for years now. I had to get out of there quick smart. I raced into the bathroom and began to pack my things before I stopped for a second to look in the mirror.

'I owe you a ten second car', was the last thing I had said to Dom, and all I could do was picture the moment as I looked at myself in the mirror. Had I done the right thing?

Before I could reminisce any longer, I finished packing my shit; I left Brian's lying all over the place, and started on my clothes. I only had one bag so it didn't take long for me to finish. I as running of time, every cop in the county will be down on me in five minutes if I didn't rush.

I slung my badge around the corner of the mirror and left, turning the corner just as I noticed the cop cars turning in the street. I was off and I wasn't looking back for anything, or anyone. I had taken Brian's car, not sure where he could've gone with out it.

I headed across states till I reached home, Arizona. I gambled in a few races along the way, gaining some cash to keep me going. I couldn't do more than one race in the same spot; once the cops got word of my appearance they had every cop they could spare out looking for me.

I only managed once nights sleep the whole way. I stopped at a diner real quick to catch a bight to eat. I turned the paper over and say a picture of me in the paper. A bold title saying: "Alleged Fugitive, Undercover Cop, Still Missing". I slammed it down quickly, gave the waitress my order before being on guard the rest of the time. There was a guy sitting a booth over, he kept smiling at me and glancing every now and then.

I was shitting myself as two cops walked in, radio mentioning what I had read in the paper; Me. I hid my face from them as they sat on the stools beside. I noticed the guy looking at me funny before I grabbed my jacket and slid out of the booth, speeding off, just wanting to get out of there.

I managed to stay at another hotel, and I was watching the news, and guess who came up? Me. A picture of me with the title recent sighting was sitting in front of me on the TV. I slipped on a shirt and gabbed my stuff before exiting the room. I headed towards where I had parked my car when I found it surrounded by cops. I rushed backwards only to run into the guy from the diner.

I had no car and I had no friends close by, so I was forced to hike my way out until I could hitch a ride with a passerby. Just my luck as a convertible slowed down as I stuck my arm out. I was thankful as I jumped in before looking at the driver. It was the guy from the Diner and the motel. He took off just as two cop cars came speeding down the freeway.

The guy took me as far as a San Antonio car dealership. I smiled and thanked him as I got out of the car, noticing the rustling of a newspaper as I did so. I looked down and found the newspaper article about me sitting there. I looked back at him and he just shrugged his shoulders before I grabbed y bag from the back seat and walked into the dealership.

I bought a car and took off, paying the cash before I did so. I worked at a garage in Texarkana, fixing up my car, giving it a new paint job. It was my knight in shining silver Armour. I took off, paying the garage owner as I headed down the interstate.

I came across two motorbike riders, memories of Jesse coming back to as I looked at them. I challenged them to a race. They "humbly" accepted, speeding off, thinking they would win it easy. I passed them up a few miles down the track, of course not by speeding; the cops, for reckless endangerment of others, had picked them up.

Further interstate I dabbled in a few more races, making a fool of them all, relaxing, and for the first time since I started running, forgot all about the cops. I was smiling as I flogged the gangster fool, whipped his chocolate ass. He paid me the cash and after every race, I held my hand out, and he reluctantly shook it. I mean, who wants to remember the fact that they had they're ass flogged by a girl.

I came up to an intersection almost forty miles down the track. New York, or Miami, I chose…Miami. By now I wasn't that worried about the cops, none so far had taken a double look at me, more had I seen any more Television with my face on it, or newspapers. I was finally free.

I pulled up in Miami not far away from the beach and I smiled at all the guys and girls walking passed, till my sights were set on the cars across the road. They revved there engines and turned the corner, myself not far behind.


	5. Chapter 5

The atmosphere was amazing. Motorbikes racing up and down the lines of cars. It was way better than the event in Los Angeles. Although there was slightly less scantly clad women, and the atmosphere grew with more and more tension as a crew went round to every street leading to the main and closed it off.

'Yo, Jimmy man, give me the status, tell me we good?' Tej asked into his mobile.

'You got it, man', the guy called Jimmy on the other end shouted.

'Beautiful', Tej smirked, 'It's gonna be an all-timer tonight'. Walking out of the little garage he stepped out onto the street. 'All right, all right, all right, fire them up', he exclaimed, hands up in the air, raising the hype. 'We go live in five', he put his hands down and walked into the crowd, 'It's time for ignition and straight automobile pimpin'.

The racers were edging closer to sanity as they prepped themselves and their cars for the race. Slap Jack, one racer with a gold car, sat on the hood as his girl took off his jacket and tore the comb out of his fro.

'Girl', he said angrily.

'Sorry. My bad!' she answered defensively.

To the left of the little drama spit, another racer, Suki, was prepping her car. She walked along the driver's side, cloth in hand, wiping any specs of dust she was hard pressed to find. The car was sparkling pink.

'All right, Ladies! We're good', she shouted happily as the ladies wiping the bright pink spoiler, 'We're good'.

The last racer was an egotistic male pig, Julius. He was walking up to the girls in tight white pants that were wiping his red car.

'That's it, babies', he said, pinching the crack of their asses. He continued to speak Spanish as he turned around. 'Come on, Tej! Let's get this race going'.

'Whoa, whoa, man. Wait a second!' Tej ordered as he walked between to of the racers cars. 'You cats are first wave. Where's your forth at?'

'Yo, yo, it was Joaquin, but he had to work the graveyard shift', Slap Jack said still sitting on his hood.

'What?' Tej exclaimed in a loud whisper, 'Graveyard shift, man'.

'Yo, why don't you run with us, Tej?' Slap Jack offered, stepping away from his car.

'Hell no, I'm not running with y'all, man', Tej said, causing the guys to smirk, 'I tell you what, either you find a fourth, or you don't race. How about that?'

'We should find two, so we don't have to roll with skirt here', Julius laughed, saying something rather insulting to Suki.

'Idiota', she returned scathingly as everybody 'Ooh'd around them. Julius argued back, in Spanish and they continued to argue.

'Whoa, wait a second', Tej muttered, stopping the fight before it got ugly, 'Why don't I just find y'all a fourth, and we settle this on the streets?'

'Bring him on', Suki smirked.

'Anybody I want?' Tej asked, with a knowing smile. Julius said something incoherent so Tej continued. 'No matter who it is?'

'Yeah', Slap Jack said calmingly. Tej smiled and walked backwards away from the pack, pulling out his phone and dialling the number he had in his head to begin with. He turned away from them.

'Yo', I answered.

'Yeah, man. You want to race tonight?' Tej asked me as I smiled.

'Yeah, you know I could use the money', I answered, getting up off the bed, a towel wrapped around me.

'You got four minutes, man', Tej smiled.

'All right, I'll be there', I answered hurriedly. Tej laughed before we hung up. I raced around the house, picking up underwear and shit, along with a pair of jeans. As I was running out the door I grabbed a shirt and slipped it on before I jumped in my car and sped out of my garage.

Soft rock music met my ears as I raced towards my destination. A combination of music told me people were showing of the shit they had.

'All right girls, let's do this', Suki said to her crew. They all put their fists and shouted something Japanese.

I sped through Traffic, passing cars, swerving to avoid them, trying desperately to get to my destination in time.

'You think your gonna win, Baby?' asked the girl that had ripped the comb out of Slap Jack's hair earlier.

'What do you think?' was his scathing reply.

'You better, we got rent to pay', she fought back, not wanting him to have the upper hand.

'I know this'; he spat out.

I finally reached the place I needed to be. Revving my car, I got everybody to move, to make my way to the line. Smoke pelting itself from the side of my car, making people cheer and back away a little more.

'Yeah', Tej said, taking out his comb and nodding with a smile, 'there's our fourth'.

'Shit', Suki swore, 'It's Jude'.

I pulled up beside Julius and he just laughed at me. I revved my engine a few more times before stepping out to a crowd of respect. Wasn't that what I had asked for back in Los Angelas?

'What's up, Tej?' I smiled, walking over to the guy that had saved my ass.

'What's happening, dude?' Tej laughed as we bumped our fists together.

'Thanks for the invite', I smiled, looking behind him.

'No problem at all man', He smiled, 'Just uh, just remember me when you wax, all right?'

'They got deep pockets?' I asked; smiling and turning the back of me head a little so that only Tej and me were in the conversation. He laughed at me a little.

'Real deep', he answered with a smile.

'What's up, Suki?' I addressed her as I turned around with a laugh.

'What's up, Bullit?' she smiled, doing the "brother" nod.

'What do you say we kick it a nickel?' I asked, looking at them all. Julius said something before finally saying what he meant.

'Nobody mentioned raising the stakes'; he said annoyed. I sidled over to him, no smile apparent on my features, but no harm on them either.

'Well, if that's the case, why don't you ask these nice people here to back off the line so you can go home', I said calmly as the crowed boo'd. Julius turned around and made a gesture with his hand to tell the crowd to shut up.

'Ok', he said after Tej sidled up to stand next to me, 'Thirty five large'. He pulled out the cash and slammed it in Tej left hand. I slammed the amount in Tej's right as he moved over to the others. I walked back over to my car.

'Thirty five large, huh?' Slap Jack asked.

'Either that, or you can go home', Tej said simply before adding, 'Bruh'.

'It's all there', he said before slapping the cash in Tej's hand and walking round to the driver's door.

'Better be', Tej muttered before heading over to Suki in her car.

'Damn, Suki, when are you gunna pop my clutch?' he asked, rubbing his chin. Suki slapped the money into his hand with a smile.

'As soon as you get the right set of tools', she smiled as he leant off of her car.

'Yeah, alright', he said walking off.

I stood by my door as the crowd cheered for me. I looked around as saw a guy in the crowd; he looked a lot like Dom. He wasn't moving or anything. He had his arms crossed and was staring right at me. I stared at him as I grabbed the door handle, tilted it up, opened the door and got in. I was still looking out my open window at him, before he smiled, turned and walked away.

'All right, back up, back up', Tej said waving his hands backwards, 'Let's go, let's go'. I smiled to myself as no one backed up, so I revved up my car and blew a burst of flames from the exhaust. 'Yeah, back y'all Asses up! Back up! Before you turn into a barbecue around here. It's not a game. This is serious'.

I could feel Déjà vu coming a long as I felt Suki look down the line and then look back to the road ahead. The same with Slap Jack, and of course, Julius, he looked at me and I did the one thing to piss him off. I cracked my neck. Suki revved her car and threw her fist up in the air as her crew cheered.

'Go, Slap Jack, go baby', shouted Slap Jack's girlfriend from the sidelines as he adjusted his rear view mirror.

'I got this', he muttered.

Julius muttered something in Spanish and kissed his necklace. These were all traditions for them to do before a race. My traditions…visualize the win.

'Ready?' Tej yelled to Suki as she revved her car in response. 'Ready?' he yelled to Slap Jack as he revved his response. 'Ready?' Tej yelled to Julius as he gripped his steering wheel and revved. 'Ready?' Tej yelled at me as I revved my engine, anticipation going through my mind. 'GO!'

Wheels screeching we all took off, Slapjack and I tied for lead. Switching gears I stayed level with Slapjack till he sped off ahead. All that mattered at this point to me as staying ahead of the two behind me, Suki and Julius. I was tailgating slapjack; it was all I could do. My eyes wondered everywhere but on the road in front of me. I was looking for a way round.

I managed to get up beside him, taking the lead slightly, until it came for the sharp turn. I watched him shout something as he went down a gear to swerve the corner. He managed to slip out front as I continued to tailgate him again. If I swerved to fake coming up left, he'd block my right and when I actually did go left, he'd block that too. I continued swerving just to see if he left a spot open for me, but he didn't.

'Watcha got man?' I muttered as I was still swerving. I came up beside him as we came up to the final turn. He slammed on his breaks and went down a gear to swerve it. it didn't look good so far as to whether I was going to be able to pass Slapjack, so I went straight back to finding an open window.

I had finally chosen a side of the road and stuck to it as we came up to the last turn. I had looked in my rear-view mirror before and watched Suki ass rape Julius. But my focus was now set back on Slapjack. He slammed his foot on the break and went down another gear and swung out around it.

'Too wide', I smiled as I swerved on the inside and came out in sync with him. I went up a gear and stayed beside him as he looked at me and did a double take. I kept my eye on him and nodded at him as he looked over, before going back up a gear and speeding into the lead.

'Home stretch, baby', I shouted in triumph as I went up another gear. I was smiling wider than normal, but that soon disappeared, as Slapjack hit his NOS and whizzed straight passed me. I went up another gear, tailgating him again as the bridge came into sight. I gained a little more speed and came in line with the back end of his car.

'Bridge', I wheezed. Slapjack hit his last shot of NOS just to make it over the bridge. We were almost two hundred metres away before I hit both shots of NOS at the same time. I came right up slapjacks ass as we both went over the bridge, slapjack falling and me flying right over the top of him. Sparks flew as I geared control and sped straight through to win the race.

I didn't slow down as I reached the crowd, but I got that close I almost hit one, so I slammed on the brakes and swung the ass end around to come to a stand still. I got out smoothly and looked over at Suki as she pulled up. I gave her the "brother" nod and got a nod in response before looking over at Tej and smiling.

'Tell you saw that, ya'll. Bullet and Suki sprayed the bridge', Tej stated pulling the money out of his pocket as he headed over to me. 'I need to start making y'all pay to see this shit', he exclaimed. 'Now I got over ten stat for my girl right here', he said holding the cash in the air. 'That's what I'm talking about, man', he said slapping the cash into my hand. 'Play with it'.

'Yeah, how about that right there?' I smiled, slapping a thousand into his hand.

'Y'all see this. Take a good look, this is what you call mutual respect', he said holding the cash up I just gave him. 'All right, let's clear out'. I laughed at him as he walked away.

I spotted the guy watching me again, and headed over, people congratulating me on the way. I stood in front of him and he just laughed and walked away.

'Hey, where are you going?' I asked, following him till he turned around.

'It's time to get out of here', he smiled, as I laughed.

'Why is that?' I asked getting my answer as a siren sounded. I looked at the cop car and bolted towards my car, the guy just standing there then walking off calmly.

Everybody was racing in every direction making it hard to find an exit, but when I did, baby did I ever take it. I raced down there, double clutching whenever I could. I raced down an empty street, only to swear a moment later as I played chicken with a cop car. I swerved to the right and it to the left. It swung its ass end around and followed me like the rest of the cop cars.

I raced around a corner and then another, watching the cop car hit a parked car as it went round the second. The racer's cars sped passed him one by one and I couldn't help but laugh in triumph. That slowly diminished as I headed around another corner to come face to face with a cop holding a rather large weapon.

'Shit', I swore as I swerved round him, but no luck. He fired something onto my car, electricity surging through all my systems, shutting them down, one by one, finally forcing me up onto the curb, knocking over a parking meter. 'Damn it!' I sat there pissed off as the police came over, weapons drawn.

'Let me see your hands', one shouted, gun pointed at my head. 'Put 'em up'. I slowly, and rather pissed, raised my hands off of the steering wheel, not looking at either one of them. Finally I got so angry I stared at the one that had talked to me first, I was livid.

An hour or two had gone by and I found myself in a police interviewing room, hand's cuffed behind my back.

'So…' Markham, one cop, started, 'How long have you been in south Florida?'

'A while', I answered calmly, looking up at him.

'Before that?' Markham continued. I didn't answer him, which made him open a file and slam it down on table. 'We know your Jude O'Connor, formerly of the LAPD', Markham said, reading off the sheet.

'You got the wrong girl'; I answered. Markham slapped the file closed.

'Really?' he asked with a look of disinterest. A knock on the door sounded and my curiosity got the better of me as I looked over at it. A shot of disappointment shot through me as I saw Bilkins.

'How you doing, O'Connor?' he asked me, walking in, his face grave. 'Let's take a walk', he muttered, slapping me on the shoulder. Markham threw him the keys and I stood up and followed Bilkins out of the room. He had walked me up on to the roof of the customs office, unlocking my chains while he sighed.

'So, did you really think we wouldn't find you?' Bilkins asked as I rubbed my wrist. 'Well, why'd you let him go?' he paused as I didn't answer, 'In LA, I mean'. I headed over to the rails, thinking of how to word it.

'You wouldn't understand', I stated sternly.

'Ah, it's pretty common really', Bilkins said behind me, 'An agent goes dark on their first undercover job, it's a little bit of the Stockholm syndrome'.

'You got the man at the races'; I stated still not looking to him, avoiding the topic of LA.

'What?' he yelled, not sure of what I meant.

'You got the man at the race', I shouted, turning back to him, 'Damn', I cursed, 'I knew he didn't belong there'.

'Well', Bilkins started, 'You still think like a cop'.

'So what do you want?' I asked him looking back out at the traffic below.

'What makes you think I want something?' Bilkins asked calmly.

'Because he was scouting me, and instead of arresting me, you and I are standing on a roof top', I yelled, as Bilkins took a couple of steps towards me. I could hear his footsteps.

'I want you to drive', he stated as I turned back to him, confused.

'Carter Verone', Markham pronounced as the information for the said person flashing up onto the large screen. I was in the briefing room. 'Born in Argentina, but he's lived most of his life in Miami. Now he owns the biggest import-export business in the state'. He was telling me all this, and I had no idea why, but I was very bored. 'Unfortunately, the cartels have been successful getting drugs into Miami, but they've had a hard time getting the cash out', he explained.

'We've been surveying him for years, but we've never been able to put the money and him together', Markham continued, 'We've swept his house, warehouse…'

'Nothing', Bilkins interrupted, 'Customs here has done a great job of getting us this far. I'm just here to help them get him over the top'.

'I was able to get an agent in undercover, working travel and logistics for him. Recently Verone's put him in charge of finding new drivers', Markham said seriously.

'Right, although we can't confirm his status right now', Bilkins continued. I looked back at him.

'You think he's flipped?' I asked as Markham interrupted.

'He's one of mine. He's alright', Markham exclaimed angrily.

'He's been in with Verone for a year. Even lives at the compound with him', Bilkins added.

'Look. It was the FBI's idea to bring you in', Markham explained, 'I'm against it'. I tilted my head at him. 'But we need good drivers to put this asshole and his money together', he placed his hands together as he spoke. 'Your going to roll with Agent Dunn here', he added pointing over to the guy standing to the side, sipping a large drink.

'And if I don't?' I asked, rubbing my chin in slight interest.

'Well, here's the list of law's you broke in L.A', Bilkins stated, handing me a file over my shoulder. 'Obstruction of Justice, aiding and abetting, you know the rap sheet', he added calmly. 'We can make this all go away in the interest of justice…if you're willing to play ball'.

'So what's the idea here?' I asked, flipping through the sheets in the file, 'Dunn and I are supposed to be street racers?'

'That's right!' Markham answered. I looked over at "agent" Dunn just as he took a sip from his oversized cup.

'So, Dunn…' I started, standing up and walking over to him, 'Looks like we're going to be partners, bro', I smiled, shaking his hand. I couldn't help myself, I had to test him, 'Could you tell me right quick, what would be a better motor for my skyline, a Gallo twelve, or a Gallo twenty-four?' Dunn looked over at Markham before looking back at me and answering.

'Um, twenty-four', he answered simply, obviously pleased with himself. I was a girl, so any answer that he thought he had right, made him feel extra special.

'I didn't know pizza places made motors', I added smiling slightly as Dunn looked at his cup. 'See man, come on, I can't do this' I added looking at Bilkins then to Markham.

'I mean, seriously, if this is what you'll give me, I may as well take my chances in Chino', I walked back to my seat, Dunn still looking dumbfounded as Markham snatched the cup away.

'We'll get someone else', Bilkins acknowledged.

'No way, man', I muttered, flopping into my seat. 'The only way I'll do this is if I get to pick the driver'. Bilkins sighed behind me and I looked forward seriously.

'All right, O'Connor, who you got in mind?' he asked me as my mind switched to one person, and one person only.

'This guy I grew up with in Barstow', I said, looking up at Dunn.

'Who's that?' Bilkins asked out of interest.

'Roman Pearce'.


	6. Chapter 6

We sat on the benches at the arena just as a car rammed another into the fence, causing us to jump back, me with a huge smile on my face.

'That him in the Monte Carlo?' asked Bilkins as I sat a bench up from him.

'Yeah, that's him', I nodded, looking back at the bunch of cars, 'Yeah, he's got some skills. And he's crazy as hell, I'm telling you'. Bilkins looked up at me with a look that said everything. 'In a good way though, he's the man for the job'.

'He's got quite a record, including three years upstate. Say's here he's on house arrest now', Bilkins read from his handheld, 'Can't go more then a hundred yards from his home'. I scratched my neck nervously as I watched the person in question turn round and play chicken with another car, only to have the other car flip.

Roman stepped out and I just looked at him every step of the way. The crowd cheered him and he waved at them from behind. He looked up into the stands and paused; smile disappearing slowly as I stood up. He turned around, muttering something and headed in the direction all the other drivers were going.

'He always said he'd be famous', I addressed Bilkins as we got down off the stands and followed him into the pits.

'Pearce', I shouted at him as he kept walking, me not far behind, 'Roman Pearce'. I turned around, still walking to address Bilkins, 'Yo, whatever happens next, let it go'. Bilkins nodded with a look of ease on his face as I turned back.

I whistled loudly, 'Rome!' he stopped just a head of me, switching from foot to foot before turning around. We stared at each other for a while before he talked.

'Only my homeboy's call me Rome…' he started before adding something to make himself feel better, '…Pig!' and to make it authentic, he spat on the ground between the both of us.

'I'm not a cop anymore, man', I said, standing there, arms by my side, face serious, not moving a muscle.

'Is that true?' he asked addressing Bilkins behind me, 'Blondie here not a cop anymore?' I went to piss him off by saying I was a brunette but now was not the time.

'That's true', Bilkins answered, nodding his head, 'No badge'.

Roman turned away for a little while clenching his fist before turning back to me as I nodded my head at him. Before I knew what hit me, he threw a punch and socked me smack bang in the jaw. I stumbled backwards a little as he followed, ducking as he tried to throw another. Sidestepping in, I rammed him and knocked him to the ground. I tripped over his leg and went down with him. Quickly getting back to his senses, he clambered onto me and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he continued to hit me.

'Still fight like shit', I yelled at him, trying to hold his arms, 'You still fight like shit'. He got lose and reached for my neck, so I brought my hands up to stop him.

'What the hell are you doing here, Jude?' he said, still trying to get at my neck as I reached up and grabbed his with my one free hand.

'I'll choke you', I told him.

'I told you to stay away from me', he shouted, knocking my hand away, before punching me again. I got him in a headlock.

'Fighting a girl, Rome, it's not like you', I grunted at him, keeping him in the headlock as he reached round me.

'You should've told me. I did three years Jude', he grunted hitting my back.

'I told you it wasn't my fault', I shouted at him as he continued hitting my back. Finally he reached up and I let my grip loose. He pushed me further into the ground. Panting hard, he sat back.

'Why'd you come here, O'conner?' he asked, still panting. I was still laying back, legs spread, panting myself.

'I got a deal for you', I stated, sitting up, my foot right between his legs.

'When I needed your ass, you were nowhere to be found', he said gravely, 'Now you're trying to hand out deals?' he asked grabbing the thick metal thing around his ankle. I pushed him back as we both got up, making sure he didn't walk away while I explained things to him.

'I need you to come to Miami and drive with me', I panted, nose to nose with him now, 'If you do, they'll take off that anklet and clear your entire record'.

'I did three years in jail', he said, holding up three, half clad in leather fingers, 'Three years in Jail over you, Jude. I know you better than you think', he exclaimed pushing me back slightly.

'You guys finished?' Bilkins asked as we walked over, me a little behind Rome.

'Is this deal legit?' Rome asked him.

'That's right', Bilkins said, eating some more chips, 'If you do this job for us'.

'Told you', I said childishly leaning forwards to emphasis my point.

'Shut up, Punk!' he answered menacingly. 'So your gunna clean my record and get this thing of my ankle?' he asked, indicating to his appendage covered in metal.

'That's right', Bilkins calmly replied again. 'I thought you couldn't wander more than a hundred yards from your home'.

'Why do you think I parked so close to the derby?' he answered sarcastically glaring up at me.

'Man, quit playing like your gunna pass this up', I said to him, smiling slightly as he got angrier.

We were driving along the freeway and I felt my chair knock forward ever so slightly, every now and then. Rome was rubbing his ankle.

'Here we are', Bilkins muttered, pulling up in front of customs. We all slowly got out, Bilkins and I walking in the door till I noticed Rome wasn't following.

'Wait, hold up', I muttered to Bilkins as I walked back and came to stand beside him. 'Hey, man, what's going on?'

'I dunno if I should be trusting you, man', he said, glaring at me.

'Just think of it this way…' I started, getting his attention, 'It's a opportunity for a fresh start. Let's just go do this all right', I finished turning back towards the building.

'I wouldn't need a fresh start if it wasn't for you', he said, making me stop, turn around, livid and come back to stand next to him.

'Man, you've been using that since the day you got busted. Now let's just chill out and go do this', I muttered calmly.

'I don't need to chill out', Rome said, being obstinate.

'Yes you do. And you need to stop blaming me for your mistakes', I stated, poking to fingers into his upper chest, 'And Roman Pearce needs to start taking responsibility for his own actions'.

'You need to go to hell', he said, mimicking me by poking me back.

'And you need to go back to Barstow', I exclaimed, having enough of his childish actions, this time heading into the building.

'I'm not going back to Barstow', Rome muttered under his breath, following me in. We walked through the hallways till we came to the warehouse. 'So now what?'

'Roman Pearce, huh?' stated a man as he walked over to us. 'Cut of sleeves, tattoo's, we got all this trouble getting him a job that a real man should be doing', the guy stopped in front of us. I couldn't help but chuckle as Rome just glared. 'Where's the dog collar I've heard so much about?' that was were I lost it, I started laughing, my hand over my mouth. I stopped after awhile and smiled at Markham. 'Don't smile at me O'Connor'.

Rome and I stood there, side-by-side just as a blue truck was backing in. it screeched to a halt and the driver got out, just as the back door was sliding up. There stood the mysterious man from the race.

'Jude O'Connor, Roman Pearce, meet Monica Fuentes', Markham introduced.

'Do they have background on Verone?' she asked.

'They've been briefed', Bilkins answered as Monica jumped out of the truck.

'Good', she started, walking over to us, 'All right, here's the deal, Verone's looking for drivers. I arranged for both of you to join up. I've also hired some thugs to make it legit'.

'When do we start?' asked Rome beside me, kind of dreamy eyed.

'Right now', she answered.

'What are we driving?' I asked, looking back at Markham and Bilkins. We turned around to find two people uncovering cars. Rome held his hand on my stomach stopping me from moving.

'Don't even think about taking the convertible', Rome said with a laugh, throwing his bag in the back of the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible, 'it might loosen your mousse'.

'That's cool, to much chrome for me anyways', I answered, smiling, looking over at the apple green Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7.

'Damn! Where do ya'll confiscate these rims from, man?' Rome asked surprised as he walked around the car slowly.

'Check in with us after you meet him', Bilkins said as he walked away from me. I just smiled and looked at him, before my ears found a conversation going on between Markham and Monica.

'You think your gonna be okay with these two knuckleheads?' Markham asked her, as I had to hold in a snicker. What was he, gay?

'I can handle them', Monica replied.

'If they give you any trouble at all, let me know', he sated before turning away.

'Thanks Markham', Monica said before turning to us. She walked over and tapped the hood of my car before opening passenger door. 'I'll ride with you'; she said getting in.

'Why's she gotta ride with you?' Rome argued as I laughed.

'Because I'm prettier', I laughed at him as he just shook his head and got into the convertible.

'Your also manlier', Rome muttered softly, but I heard it.

'You get the convertible', Monica stated over to Rome, 'Let's go'. We drove off of the base sight and onto some back roads. 'Turn right here', she muttered as I whipped right, Rome following with ease.

'So you used to be a cop?' she asked me as I just kept my eyes on the road, not really wanting to relive me days as a liar.

'Yeah', I muttered, 'How long you been under?'

'I lost track', she said gravely as I just nodded and kept glancing at her before keeping my eyes on the road.

'You all right?' I asked her, out of concern.

'You might want to keep your eyes on the road, Play bunny', she smiled as I scoffed.

'What, you think we're gunna crash?' I asked with a laugh as I turned to look at her.

'I haven't decided yet', she answered simply, smiling. She turned to me and I kept my eyes on hers as I planted my foot on the pedal. I could feel the vibration of the engine, so I took a stab that I had gone over a hundred on the speedometer. I stopped suddenly as we came up to an intersection. She just laughed at me as Rome pulled up to my right.

'She did the "stare and drive" on you, didn't she?' Rome asked as I laughed, 'She got that from me'.

We continued on our way as we finally reached the spot where the other drivers were waiting to be briefed. We pulled up on the side of the road, and all three of us got out. I watched one of the guys tap his friend and point to me. If it wasn't for the fact that I really needed to get this, I would've beat the shit out of him, right here, right now.

'Hey, where'd you get those cars?' he called out as I turned to glare at him, but he continued, 'the bottom of a cereal box?'

Rome just chuckled beside me and gave the guy a thumbs up, 'Hey', he laughed, 'Real funny, Fonzie'. He sighed before facing me, 'Ass'.

Two big bald guys whistled at us from the drive way as I slapped Rome. 'Let's go, man', I muttered before we got closer. 'Keep your mouth shut, and follow my lead, all right?'

'I got this', he said calmly.

'No, I'm serious', I said quietly as he just shrugged slightly.

'You handle your business, I'll handle mine', he said simply, neither of us looking at each other the whole time. We reached the driveway and they were searching us for weapons.

'Watch your hands, Bruh', Rome said angrily from beside me as the guy tapped him all over. He moved onto me with a smile and had no problem tapping me every which and where. He winked at me before we walked further into the compound.

'Stay here', one of the bald guys cursed before walking off. Rome and I stayed at the back of the pack. Verone walked up and stood at the top of the stairs.

'Thank you all for coming on such short notice', he said simply, as I stuff my hands in my pockets. 'My red Ferrari was confiscated yesterday', he continued, 'and it sits in an impound lot in Little Haiti. It's about twenty miles from here. The car isn't important, what is important is the package I left in the glove box'. I looked at Rome oddly as Verone continued. 'The first team back here with the package, will have an opportunity to work for me'.

'What are you saying?' a guy up the front asked, 'we gotta audition?'

'Nobody's got a gun to your head', Verone said in a rather bored voice as he looked around, 'That's it', he muttered before walking away. Everybody just stood around, looking at each other.

'Driver's licenses, pass them up', Monica shouted, holding her hands high in the air, 'Before Christmas guys', she shouted as everybody handed in there licenses. The Hench men said something in Spanish before shouting go. So I ran. Rome and I coming out second in the pack as the Spanish guy I wanted to kill rushed off first. We got to our cars and were the first to take off.

I coming out first, Rome right up my ass as we lead the way down the highway. I dodged traffic making sure no-one got passed me, Rome just following.

'Alright, let's see what this thing can do', I exclaimed to myself as I double clutched and went round a truck. I looked in my rear-view mirror to see Rome swerving all over the place. 'Come on, stick with me Rome, watcha got'.

I continued to lead till Rome came up on my left. I laughed at him as he gave me the finger and started to rotate it. I laughed harder as I remembered a come back people used to use when I was back in school.

'Smart-ass', I laughed as he whipped in front of me quickly just as we went between two mover trucks. I saw him look back and laughed at me. 'Oh yeah, you think you're the bomb, Rome?' I laughed out as I double clutched again. I tailed Rome for a quarter of a mile before I hatched a plan.

'All right, I got something for your ass', I muttered as I pulled up to his bumper and then whipped right round him. 'Watch this bro', I smiled as I sped a fair way in front of him before pulling on the hand brake and whipping around to face him. I pulled the hand brake off and began to reverse.

'Yeah Rome, how do you like them apples?' I shouted out the window to him as I gave him the finger. 'That's the Jude O'Connor School of Driving right there, Baby!'

'Show off!' Rome shouted at me as I kept looking behind me. I was just about to reverse passed the turn off, but I noticed it just in time as I swerved around and took the turn off. We served the corner and it was a straight path from here on in. Rome came up beside me as we sped through a small neighbour hood. I Rastafarian was standing in the middle of the road as Rome and I went straight passed him.

We had reached the impound lot. Bursting through the gates we found non cars, but found heaps and heaps of boats, not exactly what we were looking for. We raced in and out of the rows of boats searching for the car that would bring us our freedom.

'Stinking boats, where are the cars?' I murmured as we continued to search. A forklift was lowering a boat right in front of me and I had Rome beside me so I couldn't swerve it. I sped up a little and managed to speed through just before the gap became too small to squeeze through. 'Come on, I need the cars, where are the cars at', I continued to myself as I looked desperately for the Ferrari.

It wasn't till we were fifty metres from it that we noticed the bright red Ferrari, standing alone in the middle of a boat yard. I planted my foot on the brake and I swerved around just as Rome did the same and we both came to a halt a short way away from the car we were searching for.

We both got out, Rome taking his short off and rapping it around his fist. We stepped up to the car and I was about to say something but Rome just thrust his fist through the glass window. I reached down and lifted the handle as the door popped open. I got in and searched the glove box but found nothing.

'Look in the centre', Rome muttered as I looked back at him.

'What?' I asked, before opening the glove box in the centre console and pulled out a fresh yellow envelope. 'Cha-ching'. I smiled as I got up out of the car and said 'Now put your blouse back on', before I headed back over to the cars.

'Hater', he said rather girly. He slipped it on and followed me back just as Fabio and Fonzie pulled up. 'Shit!'

I held up the yellow envelope and tilted my head back at them with a smirk, as I saw them lean over to each other in their respected cars. I wasn't worried.

'Ha, Ha, Ha, sit on it Fonzie', Rome laughed, just as police sirens from behind me.

'What the hell?' I shouted as I turned to face them as they got out, guns out, shielding them selves with their doors.

'What the hell are they doing here?' Rome cursed as he pulled out his gun and started firing upon them. He popped one of their tires and I jumped into my car and pulled out, Rome not far behind. We managed to stop the cops from following us as we made our way back to Verone's place. We pulled up in the driveway, Verone himself coming out to meet us as I stepped out and held the Envelope to him.

'Hey, man. You got something to eat up in there?' Rome yelled out to him as I looed back at him, 'We hungry'. Verone just smirked and whispered something to Monica.

'Nice. Come on', she said, tilting his head towards the direction Verone was going. I smiled and followed as Rome rushed up beside me.

'What you checking her out for?' he whispered to me as I turned to him shocked.

'I'm not checking her out'; I answered sternly. He didn't say anything till we were standing near our respective seats near the pool.

'Yes you were', he said out of nowhere.

'No, I wasn't', I answered gravely.

'I seen you checking her out', he continued as I sighed.

'I'm not bi. Now shut up', I said sternly.

'You shut up'; he retaliated. 'Tell me to shut up', he said, as I crossed my arms and looked at him.

'Both you girlies shut up. Unbelievable', Monica stated as she sat down, Rome and I not far after.

'You sure are cosy in this big old mansion, sleeping with the enemy', Rome muttered to her coldly. I turned to Monica with the weirdest look on my face, finding it hard for a girl like her to have sex with a bony guy like Verone. I went to stand up as Verone walked over.

'No, no, no, sit down', he said as he opened the yellow envelope.

'Nice Ferrari you got in the driveway', I stated, remember the black Ferrari I had flogged off back in LA.

'I'm glad you like it', he smirked, tipping the contents of the envelope out onto the table. It was a Cigar. 'Darling, will you hold that?' he ordered more than asked as he handed Monica the envelope. I tried my hardest not to laugh.

'We did all that for a damn cigar?' Rome asked, not very happy.

'No', Verone muttered, 'you did that for a job'; he pointed at the both of us. He reached over and grabbed the cigar cutter that had been in the envelope and cut the bottom off of his cigar. 'Do you really think I'd let someone impound my car?' he asked us as he spat out a couple of waist parts of his cigar. We just stared at him. 'The boatyard is mine', he stated simply when he realised we weren't impressed. 'Oh', he said pointing between the two of us, 'You two owe me a gate'. I smirked a little, as did he as he continued; 'I'll just take it off your cut'.

'Off our cut?' Rome laughed before looking rather serious.

'Yeah', Verone answered simply.

'I like that', Rome said looking at me for a reaction.

'Good', Verone answered, lighting his cigar.

'What's this job you got for us anyway?' Rome asked as Verone nodded.

'Come with me', he said, leading us away from the house. 'The house has ears in it', Verone stated as I looked at Rome weirdly. I watched Verone throw away his cigar and I gaped before turning my attention back to Verone. 'I have something for you to carry from North Beach to the Keys', he stated as I stepped up beside him.

'What is it?' I asked sternly, looking at the side of his head.

'Just put in the car what I tell you too, and drive it to me and don't let anybody stop you. Understand?' He asked tapping my arm with his index finger, cigar cutter in hand.

'Yeah', I said before continuing, 'Any chance of cop trouble?'

'No, I'm buying you a window of time, but it's not gonna be open very long', he paused as he crossed his arms, stopped at the edge away from the house. 'You make it, and I'll personally hand you one hundred thousand at the finish line'.

'Make it a hundred g's a piece, pappi', Rome butted in as I turned to him glaring, 'Look man, obviously your pockets ain't nervous', Rome bent down and touched his pockets which I almost laughed at, but given the situation, I didn't.

'Hey, Hey, hey', Verone stated, 'Don't ever touch me'.

'Ours are empty', Rome finished what he was going on about earlier. 'Like I said…we hungry'.

'I got an idea', Verone started just after I had turned to Rome and shook my head, 'Why don't you guys join us at the club a little later tonight?'

'Yeah?' Monica agreed from behind us, 'Pearl at midnight?'

'We can get to know each other a little better'; he said smirking.

'All right, sounds good', I answered before Rome had another word vomit.

'We'll see you tonight', Verone muttered, shaking my hand.

'See you', I muttered in return going to knock shoulders with Monica but she pulled away. Rome and I had gotten nearly ten metres away from the couple, before…

'Hey you', Verone shouted out. I turned around and headed a few steps closer to them, Rome still had his back facing them, and 'Pockets aren't empty'.

'Damn', I heard Rome whisper behind me.

'I'll take my cutter back', he said as Rome pulled it out of his pocket and laid it flat in his own hand.

'Stupid ass', I muttered as he walked passed and handed Verone his cigar cutter.

'Hey, man, I figured you had like twelve or thirteen of these', Rome muttered.

'Your not to bright, get out of here', Verone whispered as Rome turned around and walked down the pathway. We were out of sight range and hearing range. I jumped and got Rome in a headlock.

'Same old Rome, doing the same old stupid shit', I sneered at him as he pushed me away.

'Get off me, man', he stated.

'Look, running your mouth? Insulting people? Stealing Verone's shit?' I stated, livid, as he turned to me.

'Think I'm gunna let someone stare me down?' he asked me, turning away from me as soon as I looked at him, 'I didn't let anybody stare me down in jail, homeboy. Think I'm gunna let it fly on the beach?' we continued walking until Rome had a little more to whinge about. "And you, I'll take my cutter back" he mimicked Verone, 'His rich ass'.

'And your packing', I yelled at him.

'Like you ain't', he retaliated as I stormed off ahead of him, 'Exactly'.

'From here on out, I do the talking', I said to him sternly as I got into my Evo.

'You want to do a little more than that', Rome mumbled as I stood back up and leant on the roof of my car.

'Oh, What's that supposed to mean?' I asked heatedly.

'It means, you always get in trouble because of a girl, Jude', he said seriously. I just glared at him before getting back into my Evo and leading the way to Tej's garage.

'Man, Tej's garage is ridiculous. He's got the best everything. Snap-on tools. These lifts are brand new. They're only a couple of months old', I explained heading over to Jimmy. 'Hey, yo Jimmy, what's up man?'

'Hey what up, Bullit?' he asked, as I gave him a quick hug. 'Hey, that's Rome right there. Do me a favour, when you've got second, I want you to go check out the Evo and Spyder, make sure everything's compensated'.

'Evo?' he said surprised, 'Where'd you get an Evo from?'

'Yo, it's a long story', I smiled as I headed towards the inner workings for the garage.

'All right, I gotcha man', he said, wiping his hands.

'Ok, thanks Jimmy', I said walking further towards the back of the garage as Rome came up beside me.

'Hey, it's so hot and humid, I can't even wear drawers', he said as I laughed.

'Man, tell me about it', I smiled as I stopped still, looking around.

'Look at all this potential out here', Rome stated as I just cracked up laughing.

'Ray, don't do that man, your making me lose money', I heard Tej yell through the loudspeaker, 'Come on, stop that, I know your better than that'.

'Damn', Rome said with a straight face as I walked forwards, laughing, shaking my head. 'Damn, girl', Rome muttered to a girl as she walked passed, 'You know your boy can help you put that fire out', I laughed at him and pulled him away by the neck, 'Look at the bubble on that one'.

'Let's go', I laughed.

'Serious, man', Rome laughed.

'Hey, Tej Parker? This is Roman Pearce', I introduced as they bumped knuckles. 'Basically, he's the man to know in Miami. He has his finger in absolutely everything. It's just the way it is', I muttered more to Rome than anybody else. 'What's up Suki?' I said bending down and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

'What's up, baby?' she asked, before turning back to working on her car.

'How you doing?' I asked, watching her.

'Good', she muttered in reply, 'How you doing?'

'What's this, what's the latest?' I asked as she tilted her drawing pad up and showed Rome and I what she had been drawing.

'It's a work in progress, it's not finished', she stated.

'That's some artistic shit. You got talent', Rome assured empathetically.

'Yeah she's good, she's the best', I said as I watched Tej chuck a hissy at one of the water skiers.

'That's how they do it out here man?' Rome asked me with a wide smile.

'Everyday', I laughed as I continued to watch Tej collect his winnings.

'I see you're about your money, homey. You race too?' Rome asked as Tej shook his head gravely.

'No, man. I hit a wall doing like a buck twenty a couple of years ago', he replied, 'Every since then I've been organising and collecting man'.

'Check it out, he's gonna be in town for awhile, can he use the cot?' I asked as Tej laughed.

'What's wrong with your place, man?' he asked me as I smirked before turning to Rome.

'No. I don't wanna stay with her. She has bad habits', that earned Rome a scoff before Tej agreed.

'All right, whatever man, show him around, I'll be up there in a minute', Tej said before he picked up his loudspeaker and started the betting again. We headed back out to the front of the garage just to see where Jimmy had gotten with the cars.

'So, Jimmy, you ever seen anything like this before?' I asked, not really expecting what he was going to tell me next.

'Nah, both of them are wired like I never seen before', he stated, not happy.

'What?' Rome said from beside me as I followed Jimmy round from the Evo to the Spyder.

'Yeah man, they've got us wired with GPS', I muttered, filling Rome in to what he didn't understand, 'That's why Markham knew we were at that impound lot'.

'Yo, you the master mechanic, can't you just yank that shit up out of there then?' Rome stated dumbly as jimmy gave him an answer.

'I'll try, but this ain't LoJack. The DIS box, the engine management system, hell, the main harness, the GPS has spidered into all that', Jimmy answered as Tej and Suki walked out from the back of the garage.

'Hey, tell me something man', Tej started looking at me, 'Do I even want to know where the skyline is, dawg?' he paused before starting again, 'Or where've you've been these passed couple of days or where the hell you got these rides from?'

'They're hot', Suki laughed.

'Yeah, they hot. They're wired so hot, anyone tracking these things will know every time you don't wear your seatbelt', Jimmy exclaimed.

'All right, Jimmy. Just do what you can do bro', I ordered as I headed off with Rome.

'I got you', Jimmy replied.

'Hey, bro, check it out', I whispered to Rome, 'See that Cadillac across the street?'

'Yeah', he replied.

'Yeah, well they've been on us ever since we left Verone's house', I muttered scratching my chin. We made a quick dash back to the garage, Rome grabbing some windscreen wiper crap, while I grabbed the Evo. I stayed back for a while as I watched him spray the liquid before lighting it on fire. I sped forward, stopped, picked Rome up and sped off.


	7. Chapter 7

I pulled up outside of the meet up building and we let ourselves in freely.

'He'll blow our cover before we even get started', Rome cursed as we walked further in.

'Hey, yo Bilkins, can you tell me what went wrong?' I asked seriously.

'That's what I want to know', was his only reply. Before we could do anything, let alone breathe Markham popped up out of nowhere and shoved a gun at us.

'Show me your hands. Keep them up', Markham shouted shoving the gun at Rome.

'What's this about Man?' Rome asked panicky.

'Hold this', Markham ordered as he threw his gun and agent dun before launching himself at Rome. 'You you can shoot at me? I'm a god damn federal agent'.

'What the hell are you talking about?' Rome yelled as Bilkins, Agent Dun and myself ran over to stop them.

'Get your hands off me', Markham yelled.

'Get him away from me, dawg', Rome cursed. 'Just cause you wear a badge doesn't mean you can come right in and mess shit up for us, homeboy'.

'Shut up, Rome!' I shouted.

'Don't tell me to shut up, Jude', he shouted at me before pointing at Markham, 'You almost blew our cover old man'.

'You shouldn't have show up like you did', I said calmly before looking over at Bilkins and Rome, 'You didn't know Verone was testing us?'

'No!' Markham spat, 'I thought you punks were running'. Rome started yelling and carrying on.

'That's great!' I stated angrily, 'That's real great!' I pulled out my gun from the inside of my pants, 'And if Rome wanted to shoot you? You wouldn't be here right now'.

'Alright, we got to get this under control', Bilkins stated, pocketing my gun. Rome was pacing before he saw a paper bag on the table, and he opened it.

'Hey', Markham stated, 'That's mine'.

'So?' Rome questioned as he opened it up and started to eat the contents.

'Tell me what you know', Bilkins started as we had all sat down.

'We're making a run for Verone', I muttered, 'I'm not sure when or where, but he did say he had bought us a window, I assume from the local cops'.

'I can talk to some of the guys at the local P.D', Dun suggested.

'They're no good. If Verone has some of them on payroll, then we can't let them know our operation', Bilkins told Dun.

'Exactly', I added, 'In addition, Verone told us that he himself will be at the drop'.

'That's good news', Bilkins cheered slightly looking back at Markham, 'If you're going to be delivering drug money, we can get him for laundering'.

'Now, there's only one problem', Rome chimed in.

'What's that?' Bilkins said cautiously.

'Fuentes', Rome stated, 'Verone's tapping her'.

'Tapping her?' Bilkins reiterated in confusion, 'Tapping her how?'

'That is crap', Markham swore.

'What you talking about?' Rome shouted angrily, 'We know what we seen'.

'What do you think, O'Connor?' Markham asked, looking over at me with that smug look, 'you think she's compromised? You should know'.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Rome said from behind me urgently.

'Your pal O'Connor didn't tell you?' Markham relished, as he continued to dig my grave deeper, 'She flipped on Bilkins in LA. She gave her mark her car keys and let him disappear. That's why she's not a cop anymore'. Rome sighed behind me as Markham continued, 'So what do you think, expert?'

'Man, I don't know', I answered honestly.

'All right', Bilkins interrupted before things got ugly, 'We'll keep an eye on her'.

'We're out of here', I said looking back at Rome as we got up and headed out of customs.

'Let your man go, huh?' Rome asked me as we walked down the ramp on the outside of the building.

'Drop it. I don't wanna talk about it', I said firmly.

'Drop it, hell. I want to hear about this, homey', Rome said in mock happiness.

'I said forget about it, cuz', I stated angrily as we reached the car.

'We got Fuentes in with Verone, Markham trying to blow our cover and we got two wired cars that are no better than that damn ankle bracelet of mine', Rome yelled, stating the obvious as we got in. 'I'm gunna tell you, Bruh, you let your man Markham do that shit again in front of Verone, that's gonna be our ass'.

'I know, man, I know. It's just getting thick real quick. We may need a way out, got to come up with an exit strategy', I said, saying whatever came to my head.

'Exit Strategy, huh?' Rome repeated.

'Yeah', I said looking from him back to the front of the car.

'I like the way that sounds, what you got in mind?' he asked with a smile, still stuffing his face with Markham's sandwich.

'I don't know man, but we need two more cars', I started up the car before pulling out.

We were all hanging out on the side of the road. Rome, Suki, Tej, Jimmy and me just as Fabio and Fonzie rolled up.

'Yeah', Tej muttered, 'Here they come'. They got out as soon as they pulled up to the starting line.

'Fonzie and Fabio, glad you could make it', Rome said sarcastically as Fonzie waved at us.

'We heard you boys…' I glared at them, '…Wanted to get rid of those Cracker Jack toys'.

'No, actually we just figured those cars of yours deserve better drivers. So which is why we're gunna take them off your hands', I said irately.

'Why don't we settle this now?' Fabio stated as his girlfriend held him back.

'Wait, wait, wait, how bout we settle this on the black top, huh?' Tej stated, stepping forward. 'Each car does a down-and-back, tag-team style. For slips', Suki stepped up angrily and stood beside Fonzie's girlfriend.

'Loser walks home', she assured as the girlfriend stepped back.

'We came to race', Fonzie said to her.

'Load them up then', Tej ordered as I turned around and pushed Rome out of earshot of the other drivers.

'Let's go get these cars, man', I muttered. 'All right, check it out. There's no way we're gonna beat these guys straight up. That Hemi's putting out about 425 and that Yenko will snap a Speedo in five seconds flat, so…' I took a deep breath. 'We're gonna have to pull something out of our ass. The only thing I can think of is save the spray for the way back, the return trip'. I slapped my hand in Rome's.

'Done deal', he muttered firmly.

'Let's do this bro', I muttered in return as we moved away from each other.

'I'm getting that Orange one', Rome said with a wide smile as he jumped in his car. 'You ain't ready, Fabio', he yelled out while pulling up to the starting line.

'All right', Tej yelled. 'You each got a barrel to go round down at the end of the road here. Second waves gutta sit tight till your partner crosses this line right here. First team to go down and back twice wins the race', he said, getting serious now, 'at which point…the losers will hand over them keys. Otherwise you'll be eating breakfast through straws from now on'. Tej was looking at Fabio when he said that, 'Comprendai?'

'I get it', Fabio nodded.

'Oh this means you too'; he said nodding at Rome.

'I got it', Rome said seriously.

'All right, let's race', Tej stated before walking backwards to the front of the cars.

'Come on, baby, you got this Rome', Suki shouted, 'this dude ain't serious'.

'Yeah, you gone, homey', Rome stated happily, 'I got this. This is done, you about to lose your car padre'. Rome was mighty happy.

'You got it Rome', Suki shouted.

'You think I'm worried about this fool? This is nothing', Rome shouted to Suki, smiling wide. That was until Fabio decided to rev his engine. Rome's smile fell of his face faster than a cat can lick its ass.

'All right, here we go', Tej shouted, lifting his hands in the air.

'It's all right baby, I'm gonna handle this', Suki said, storming up to Tej while putting her arms up in the air.

'Handle it', Tej smirked, resting his hands on her hip. I just laughed at him.

'Ready, and…go', Suki shouted. I watched Rome twitch before he sped off, coming out just behind Fabio. It took awhile, but as soon as Rome started coming up beside him, Fabio planted his foot and sped out in front.

They got to the Barrels, my stomach churning as Fabio swerved round it, and speeding off back down for the return trip, passing up Rome on the way. Rome swerved around the barrels and made it down far enough before he hit his shot of NOS. I watched as Fabio swerved off the road and knocked a sign right in Rome's path. Rom swerved it and lost control before regaining it and heading back down towards the line. I revved my engine getting restless as I watch Fabio come over the line and Fonzie take off.

'Come on, Rome', I muttered as Rome sped across the line and I sped off. I wasn't far behind as I watched Fonzie swerve the barrels perfectly and take off back towards me. It was time for drastic measures. I slowly drifted over to Fonzie's side of the road and sped straight for him. He had to chicken out, and that was all I was hoping for, if he didn't, bade-Bing, bade-boom. But he swerved, not only a meter from my grill.

'Whoohoo', I screamed, not taking my hands off the wheel as I sped on, swerving around the barrels. I was speeding back down, and I watched Fonzie restart his car and speed off again. This time I had a chance to catch up and pass. I was catching up the rear as I hit up my NOS. We were now coming head to head, not far from the finish line. Swinging in and out of first place, Fonzie planted his foot a little more, as I switched gears in time to speed over the finish line first.

'Ha!' I shouted as I pulled my car to a small stop and reversed it all the way back to the finish line.

It was time to meet Verone and Dominic at the club; Pearl. I was wearing a fabulous Gloomy bear shirt, combined with a pair of tight black jeans, all topped off with a pair of chucks with bright red laces.

'Hey, how's it going?' I smiled, walking up to the bounce outside of the club.

'Good, what's your name?' he smiled politely looking at his large sophisticated list.

'We're guests of Mr. Verone's', I answered. His smiled slipped before he reached down and unchained the red rope to let us through. Walking further in, the club looked shone a pale red. Sluts and bitches were dancing everywhere, cracks and cleavage galore up in here.

'It's a hoasis in here', Rome stated beside me as I smirked.

'Yeah, lost of potential', I joked as Rome chuckled. He was having fun.

'Damn! You got a pen?' he asked my, diving his hands into his pockets, looking for the invention people called a pen. I just turned to him and started laughing. 'It's about to get serious', he paused to look around, 'Look at the girl on the swing'.

'Hey', someone shouted from in front of us as I turned my sights on Monica. 'You guys did something right. Verone never socialises with hired help'.

'Now, what's that make you?' Rome retaliated as I snorted softly, trying to stop myself from laughing. Monica just glared at him, as I was controlling my inner laughter.

'Where's he at?' I asked, as she switched her sights on me.

'He's on his way', she answered as I nodded, before looking around again.

'You and Verone don't go everywhere together?' Rome asked seriously, as I snorted softly again, trying to tame the laughter again.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Monica retaliated heatedly as I whistled tunelessly looking around, trying to stay out of the current verbal fight going on.

'Nothing', Rome answered calmly before laughing slightly. 'I'm gunna go take a piss'.

'You go do that', Monica said "happily". Rome just looked at me before heading off to no doubt find some whore to relieve his masculine problems. I stepped forward so I could hear what Monica was saying, We were about the same height, so it wasn't hard. 'What's his deal?'

'He doesn't trust people who carry badges', I stated simply, looking around at the people drinking.

'You talk like you know', she questioned as I just smirked and followed her as she started to walk off.

'Yeah', I answered as someone slapped my back. I stepped closer to Monica as I spoke. 'I'd been a cop about two months when roman was busted in a garage raid. He got eight sets of wheels in his possession, each and every one of them were hot'.

'So you busted him?' she asked me.

'No, I didn't even know it was going down. But hat doesn't really matter. Basically once I became a cop, roman started treating as the friend who became the enemy', I sighed. She led me up to a table with some weird ass seats, before she started playing with my bracelet. I tuned her out as she started mumbling what it was about and I began to picture Torreto sitting there.

This was one of the many times when I was settled, where I actually thought of him. I thought of how things would have been if I hadn't have left; if he didn't know that I was a cop; if I wasn't actually a cop, and whether he would still be alive if I hadn't have stopped the truck raid. I was knocked out of my reverie by Rome.

'What's up, man?' I asked at his grave face.

'He's here', he said, as I looked sick.

'Where's he at?' I asked as I looked at Monica who I noticed was looking over at Verone.

'He's over there don't look', Rome muttered as I looked over at him.

'Excuse me, Mr. Verone would like for you to join him', a waitress smiled as she delivered the message.

'Let's do it', Monica stated as we all got up and was led over.

'See what I'm talking about?' Rome muttered to me angrily as we walked. I just looked at him funny before we reached the red rope leading to the VIP lounge.

'It's alright, let them in', Verone stated to his two Hench men. We walked in, Rome in front of me as Verone muttered something to him. I was left face to face with Verone.

'How you doing?' I smirked at him as he just stared at me.

'Good, you enjoying your night?' he asked me strangely.

'Yeah, I'm having a good time', I answered.

'Good', he said simply. I thought it was going to end there but he continued. 'She's beautiful, isn't she?' Why do people continuously ask me questions like that? He just looked at me and made a humming noise before I answered.

'Yeah', I stated, 'she's hot'.

'You got balls, kid', he said to me, pointing at me while smiling. 'I can appreciate that'.

'Women are a very powerful force', he paused, 'you see the blonde sitting with the gentleman right there?' I looked over and saw a hefty man speaking with a gorgeous blonde. 'Five minutes of her time and she can get anything she wants from him, watch'. The blonde and the guy got up and Verone chuckled before looking at me. 'I wonder where they're going? Sit down'.

I did as I was told as Verone rounded on Rome. 'So, you, uh, lit my man's car on fire, is that right?'

'Yeah, I did', Rome answered seriously. He knew this was no time for laughing. 'You see', he started again, 'I've got a problem with authority'.

'I have that same problem', Verone muttered. 'For me, it's cops in particular', and just as he said that, he looked straight over at me. I got a sinking feeling in my stomach that he knows Rome and I are working for the police, but he won't come right out and say it. He turned back to Rome and chuckled before rubbing Monica's knee. 'Let's take a walk. Come on'.

'We just got here', Monica stated as I nodded and smiled in agreement.

'Now, we're leaving', he stated commandingly, indicating for Rome and I to follow. I was the first of the three of us to leave, Verone behind me. 'Hey', he swore as I turned around just in time to see Rome stand up straight. God damn it, he had tried to steal the cutter again. We were led down a hallway, a bright orange hallway to be precise

'What's all that?' Rome asked indicating to all the equipment on the table as we entered the room. There was a portable blowtorch, two clear hoses, welding gloves and a tin bucket covered by a white cloth.

'We're going to have a little fun', Verone answered, trying to pry the cork from the champagne bottle. He finally popped it and poured a glass for himself and Monica, leaving us to die of thirst. I was looking at Verone when he chuckled and raised his wine glass at someone. I turned to find the fat guy and the blonde.

'Hey, Carter', the fat guy smiled nervously, arm around the blonde.

'Meet, ah, detective Whitworth', Verone introduced as I looked over at the fat man, 'One of Miami's finest. Thank you sweetheart', Verone smiled as the blonde glared before walking out. 'You enjoying yourself, Detective?'

'Yeah, I was', he answered angrily, 'I mean, you know me'.

'Yeah', Verone smirked, 'I do know you. You've been on my payroll a long time'.

'Verone, that ain't right', Whitworth started.

'Shut up!' Verone stated. 'I've got one last job for you detective, you hear me?'

'Look, we've been all through this', Whitworth sighed.

'Yeah?' Verone chuckled.

'And I said I can't do it', Whitworth stated.

'That's the wrong answer', Verone said heatedly before looking at his Hench men, 'the table'. They launched and tackled Whitworth before they held him on top of the table.

'I'm a detective, Verone', Whitworth shouted, 'You do anything to me, the whole force'll be on your ass in a minute'. That was when we found out with the clear hoses were for. They had tied them around his wrists and the Hench men were holding one each.

'Shut your mouth', Verone shouted, ripping open Whitworth's shirt, 'you fat piece of shit'.

'Stop right now', Whitworth stated angrily as I started singing a Spice girls song in my head, before realising it was not the time or the place for it. Verone threw the cloth off of the top of the bucket on the couch and pulled a rat out of the bucket by its tail.

'Sit down!' Verone said to Rome and I heatedly, as we found our way around the room and sat on the couch to the head of the table where we could clearly see Whitworth's face.

'You're going to regret this. Stop right now!' Whitworth spat as I got the spice girl's song stuck in my head again.

'Once the bucket gets hot enough, detective…' Verone started, 'the rat…is going to want out. The only direction it can go is south'. The balding Hench man put the welding gloves on as Verone dropped the rat onto Whitworth's stomach and shoved the bucket over top of it. He reached over and picked up the blowtorch before starting it. He started heating the bucket all around. 'Did you know that your average rat could chew through a steel drainpipe? You see, you have nothing to worry about when he's screaming, detective. It's when he goes quiet that he goes to work'.

'Stop it', Whitworth yelled, 'you can't be that stupid. Stop it now!'

'You're in charge of the units that are watching my properties, huh. What I want is a fifteen minute window where everybody, and I mean everybody, disappears, do you hear me?' Verone asked, as he stopped heating the bucket.

'No', Whitworth moaned, 'I can't do it'.

'You can't?' Verone repeated. 'Ok, Monica, come here'. Monica stood up and walked over to Verone uneasy. 'Shut him up'. She placed both her hands over his mouth as he continued screaming. Verone went back to heating the bucket.

'It's biting me', was all I could make out of the screams as the rat was obviously giving off the effect that the heat was giving it.

'What?' Verone asked with a smile, 'Got something you want to say?' Monica pulled her hands away as he spoke.

'It bit me, Jesus', he groaned, 'And I'll do it'.

'Do what?' Verone shouted, 'Say it!'

'I'll do it', Whitworth cried, 'I'll give you your window', he stared crying, 'Just get it off me'.

'You betray me…' Verone started, pointing at Whitworth with the blowtorch, 'and my rat here, is going to visit your wife, Lynn, your son, clay, and your daughter, Lexi. Do you hear me?' Whitworth nodded, 'Do you understand me?' Verone was going mad; he grabbed Whitworth's face. 'I'll burn your fucking eyes out! I'll burn them out. Now, you can go', Verone finished calmly as he tapped Whitworth on the shoulder and took the rat away, letting his Hench men dispose of the detective.

He walked up to us calmly before smiling widely and taking a swig of his champagne. 'You guys enjoy the show?' we just stared at him blankly, not sure of what to say. 'Fifteen minutes, and then every cop in Florida's gonna be on you. Be at Versailles Café at six a.m., day after tomorrow, ready to drive. You understand?'

'Yeah', I said grimly.

'Don't play games with me, or you'll be next. All right?' he threatened as we just remained neutral. 'Help yourself to a little champagne', he said indicating to the bottle behind me in the cooler. 'Let's go', he said back to Monica as they left us.

'That was a damn rat', Rome said softly beside me.


	8. Chapter 8

as fast as I could all the way back to Tej's garage.

'She was into it, man. What's that about?' Rome asked me as we both got out of the car, I walking towards the back of the car. 'You seen the way she grabbed the dudes head'.

'She had to, man; he was testing her. You got to remember, her ass is on the line, just like ours', I answered, knowing exactly what she was going through.

'Hey, you're feeling this girl way too much', Rome stated, 'She just like that crazy assed trailer rat from back in the day, Tanya'.

'Tanya? Man, you went out with her after Brian did', I stated as he just looked at me.

'I mean I couldn't let it go to waste', was his only answer as I walked away from him and over to the table with Tej, Jimmy, Suki and another girl. I walked right round to Suki's side and she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

'I got this, I got this', Jimmy kept stating.

'Is that right?' Tej muttered.

'We go race for cash, but when I step on the gas, my nitrous go blast, leave your ass in the past. Hey Tej, you about to lose your garage', Jimmy rapped as Tej just muttered. 'I'm a low budget mechanic but I over charge', he stated before he slapped his cards down on the table. 'Pay me! Let's go man'.

'I'm so glad you're happy', Tej smirked, 'This is my garage'. He slammed his cards down on the table before stealing the cash off of Jimmy. 'Royal flush, give me this, man'.

'Hey, hey, you can play that for long, put that money back on the table, you know it's mine next hand', Suki smirked as I walked round to Jimmy.

'Hey yo, Jimmy, how're you ever gonna pay me back if you keep losing to Tej like that?' I asked, slapping my hand in his. 'I'm gunna crash, Tej, I'll catcha tomorrow'.

'All right, man', Tej muttered before going back to the game.

I was sleeping half off the bed and half on it as I heard a dor open. My eyes snapped open and I turned over as I saw Monica sitting on the end of my bed, nervous.

'What are you doing here?' I asked, sitting up, running my hand through my hair.

'Jude, they're gunna kill you. I heard him telling Enrique and Roberto', she said, as I yawned. 'Once you finish the run, they're putting a bullet in your head'.

'You sure you heard him right?' I asked, my head reeling.

'I'm sure'; she panicked. I heard a knock and in stormed Verone.

'Verone's boys is outside…' he started, before realising why. 'Oh, I see what they're looking for, your little girlfriend here'. I watched a shadow walk across the side.

'They don't know I'm here, I snuck out', Monica whispered hastily.

'What are they doing here then?' Rome asked heatedly.

'I don't know', Monica whispered angrily, 'Maybe they're guessing'.

'Hey, go stall them', I whispered to Rome, 'Go stall them for like two minutes'.

'Check her, Homey', Rome whispered, pointing at Monica before walking out.

'Jude, this isn't about being a good cop, or doing your job', Monica whispered to me, 'they're gonna kill you, you gotta pull out, okay?'

'Yeah', I mumbled, as she began to panic again.

'Don't make that run, Jude, don't make that run', she whispered, kissing me on the cheek before running into the toilet. I walked outside with Rome. One of Verone's Hench men pushed his way on the boat as I went in to follow him; the other grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me back out.

'Hey, where you going? You stay right here with us, buddy', he said, holding the gun to my neck. I glared at him before pulling the curtain back so I could at least see what he was doing. I watched him search around till he came ton the toilet door. He ripped it open and walked back out.

'Stay your ass off my homeboy's boat', Rome stated heatedly before being elbowed in the gut by the searcher. Rome came back and got him in the cheek as the guy holding me got distracted. I stepped round to the other side of him and pushed him down by grabbing his arm and pulling it back up so that the gun he was holding was now pointed into his bicep.

'Out the gun down!' I shouted as the guy Rome was fighting held the gun to his head, 'Put the gun down now!'

'You first, asshole', he shouted, shoving the gun into Rome's head.

'I'll shoot the shit out of him', the guy I was holding shouted. We all continued shouting, none of us paying attention to the other as another person stepped in.

'Enough', they shouted as I looked up to see Verone standing there. 'Shut up', he said pointing to the guy holding Rome. 'It's over come on', Verone stated, calling his guys off. I cocked the gun to get the bullet out, 'It's our gun, come on, let's go'.

He chuckled as Rome and I stepped out onto the dock. 'I'm glad to see you boys are getting along so well because tomorrow, Roberto and Enrique are going to be riding along with you. Jus so we don't have any problems', Verone finished as I was huffing, 'I'll see you guys in a bit'.

'What the hell was she doing in there?' Rome asked, turning to me as soon as the guys were out of ear shot.

We arrived at the meet up building again and walked in.

'Nice shirt, Bilkins', I smirked at the bright Yellow fish shirt he was wearing.

'It's my day off', he said softly.

'Well, anyhow, this is the deal', I started as Rome crossed his arms, 'last night, Verone threatened a cop into giving us a window. We're driving to an airstrip in the keys, off Nallwood Avenue. Verone has a plane there and he's taking off for good'.

'Wait a minute, how do you know this?' Markham interrupted.

'Monica', was all I said.

'She's doing her job', Rome cut in, 'She warned us'.

'She warned you about what?' Bilkins asked.

'Verone plans to kill us after we give him the money', I stated.

'Driving into an ambush wasn't the deal. I'm calling it off', Bilkins stated heatedly.

'Like hell you are', Markham yelled, 'This is a customs case, Bilkins. No one's calling this off unless I do. Look, this is real simple. You make the run, get Verone and his cash together, so I can move in. You don't, I'll file enough charges on you to make you disappear', he said handing us a walkie-talkie each. 'We're gonna have GPS on you the whole time, just so you don't get any cute idea's'.

'And to make sure nothing happens to them, right?' Bilkins shouted out as Markham walked off.

'Yeah, right', Markham said rather quickly. We followed him out and walked a separate way.

'That guys a dick', Rome muttered.

'Yep', I agreed.

'Let me get this right', Rome started, 'If we don't do this, then we go to jail. If we do it, then Verone's gonna kill us'.

'It's a hall of a deal, huh?' I asked sarcastically.

'Yeah', Rome muttered, 'Maybe it is. But in know this guy's got an ass full of loot that he's ready to dump in our cars. I can think of two reasons why he doesn't need that money anymore'.

'Oh, here we go', I stated.

'You and me', he continued, 'Just like the old days. What do you think?'

'I think they messed with the wrong two guys…people…that's what I think'. I pulled out my mobile, bumped fists with Rome and walked away a little bit.

'Hey, yo, Tej, what's up?' I smiled.

'What's up?' Tej answered.

'Now, man, how quickly can you organise?' I asked.

'Look, bro, if ya'll really wanna carry out this plan, this is the best place to do it', Tej stated as we walked across the walk through above the street. We had met up with him after he had looked around for a place.

'I think it's perfect', I smiled before continuing, 'so what do they store here?'

We spent the whole of the next day working on the cars, loading the spray and allowing Suki to try out her new design on the side. We even added an ejector seat for the hell of it.

Rome and I were now axing out on the dock.

'Man, when did you start eating so much?' I asked as Rome was stuffing his face.

'I was in jail, Bruh', he smirked, 'I know how shitty the grub is on the inside'. I just cracked up laughing; he was so serious. 'The way things are shaping up out here right now, it'll be a matter of time before I'm back in there or dead', I couldn't stop laughing, 'So I'm trying to eat all I can, while I can'. He still hadn't finished as I stopped laughing, 'Plus, the doctor ssy's I got a high metabolism'.

'Man, you remember us growing up?' I smiled. 'You know, playing football in the dirt. Getting into trouble, all the stupid things we did?' I sighed, as I looked at him. He was trying not to remember. 'When you got busted, whether I was a cop or not, if there was anything I could've done, you know, I would've done it. I just want you to know that'.

'Is that why you let that dude go in L.A.?' he asked me as I looked at the sky then back to him.

'Yeah, I think that had a lot to do with it', I sighed. The other half was the fact that I was falling in love with him.

'When I got busted…' Rome started, 'it wasn't your fault', I looked at him strangely, 'It was all on me. Mr. Roman Pearce. Wild and out. Crazy man', I smiled slightly as I watched him, 'No one could tell me nothing. Riding solo'.

'Yeah, well, not anymore', I smirked. 'Not anymore bro'.

Six a.m. was rolling in fast as we pulled up at Versailles Café.

'Here we go', Rome said into the walkie-talkie.

'Yeah, so you know what to do', I said in return, 'Stay cool. Keep focused. Remember the airstrips off Nallwood Avenue. It's the third exit after the bridge'.

'Got it', he said.

'So, what up, man, you ready for this?' I asked, leaning closer to the passenger window to talk to him.

'Come on, man. Guns, murderers, and crooked cops?' he said smiling widely, 'I was made for this, Bruh'. I stopped smiling as I saw Verone's men pull up. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

We followed there all the way to some trailer trash hideaway. There was no trailers really, just a bunch of two room house type things, falling apart. It reminded me of home in Arizona. We pulled up out side of one of the houses and I noticed a guy kind of like hector leaning to look out of the window.

Enrique and Roberto got out of their four-wheel drive and opened the back hatch. Pulling out two sledgehammers, they stood staring at us, waiting for us to get out of our cars. So we did.

'Come on', Roberto stated, making they're way into the house we had pulled up at. The guy that reminded me of a smaller version of Hector, spoke a little Spanish before hopping out of the house before walking off. I watched him walk off as banging went on inside the house. My attention was then turned to the inside of the house as I watched Roberto and Enrique rip apart the wall, and millions of dollars in cash, tumble out of the now gaping hole in the wall.

They began to pack the money into black leather bags and one by one, threw them out to Rome and I to put in the car.

'Load up', Enrique yelled at us.

They had finished packing and we had finished loading.

'Three bags in one car, huh?' Rome asked Roberto. Not far off we heard police sirens and a chopper overhead, causing us all the panic and anger surge inside of me.

'The cops', I swore as I jumped in the car, drivers side as Enrique jumped into the passenger seat.

'I'm not going back to Jail', Rome muttered, but I heard him loud and clear. He ran off towards Enrique and Roberto's car.

'Where you going man? Lets go', Roberto screamed, as Rome opened the drivers side door of the four-wheel drive.

'What is he doing?' Enrique shouted to me as I just shrugged and watched. He had picked up a rock and sat it on the accelerator and started the car, sending it screaming towards the cops. He ran back laughing as I just chuckled slightly at him before leading the way out.

We made it on the highway and I was going off the road to bypass the cars. Enrique was holding onto the edge of his seat, shitting himself.

'Do you know what you're doing, man?' he asked me as I just looked serious and kept going. I switched a gear as I looked in the rear-view mirror. Rome was falling back.

'Stay with me, Rome, stay with me', I exclaimed more to myself than anybody.

I got the speedometer over 120, as I continued to swerve dangerously around cars. I could hear the cop sirens getting louder and louder as we went further down the highway. This was not good. Enrique turned to me, panicking.

'They're catching up, man!' he shouted as I turned to him alarmed.

'Shut up, man!' I shouted back, turning to face the road again as I went up another gear. 'Yeah, nice driving, Rome, nice driving', I exclaimed randomly again as I served off of the road to pass a car. A chopper flew overhead, two guys sitting out, holding a gun each, pointed at my car. I gaped before slamming both my feet on the brake, Rome doing the same behind me, swerving to miss my backend. That wasn't enough, one of the spider things attached itself to the side of my car, sending the system of my car haywire, before slowly shutting it down.

'Oh, shit', I cursed as I looked back at it. 'Come on, man, take the wheel', I stated, looking over at Enrique.

'No, No, No, man, I can't drive', she stated worriedly beside me. I took drastic actions; I reach over and pulled his hands to the wheel.

'Just hold the wheel', I shouted, holding his hand on the wheel as he tried to tug it back. 'Put your hands on it, hold it right there, keep it steady. Just like that'. I got up on my seat and leant out my window, Enrique holding my shirt as I leant out with a rag, ready to grab the spider affecting my car.

'What are you doing man?' I heard Rome shout as I placed the rag on the spider and tugged at it. Enrique was steering us onto the grass beside the road, which made it harder to pull it out. I continued trying, as my foot began to become loose on the pedal. I tugged harder, grunting as I did so, stomach beginning to be rubbed red-raw as I was doing so. Then that was it. I tugged it free and grunted as I threw the metal claw away and into the grill of a cop car.

I cracked up laughing as I jumped back into the car and took the wheel as the cop car swerved out of control, taking a few more cops in it's wake. Enrique started screaming at me in Spanish as I started cheering and speeding up.

'Yeah, man!' I shouted slapping him on the chest in triumphant happiness. I looked up and still saw the chopper there. Then I realised I was going to pass the turn off as I swerved dramatically to reach it, all the cop cars fumbling over themselves to follow. We swerved round two or three corners as we began to lose the cops.

'You're a good driver, man', Enrique said, a little more calm than earlier.

'Thanks, bro', I said calmly as I continued to maintain my speed. I saw a bunch of cop cars blocking the way, but we swerved pass them perfectly as we headed to the spot Tej suggested to play out our plan.

'All right, Miami's finest, let's see what you got', I muttered as I sped up a little more and picked up the walkie-talkie. 'Hey, man, everyone's here. Time for the show', I laughed into it.

'Let's give it to him', was Rome's reply as we swerved into the storage lot.

'All right, let the party begin. Let's go', I shouted as Rome and I pulled into the only two open garage doors. They shut quickly behind us as we pulled up before getting out quickly.

'What's up Tej', I shouted as we transferred the money bags into the Yenko and Hemi.

'Hope you know what your doing, Jude', he said to me simply as I nodded and jumped in, Enrique getting in beside me.

'Time to go is now', I whispered as everybody started their engines, revving them in hopes for a good take off. The first wave out were the trucks with the bull bars, in use for clearing the way for the stampede of cars about to speed out, and that, they did. Everybody went pouring out, circling around the cop cars before I gave the signal.

'Yo everybody, let's break', I said into the walkie-talkie as everybody started pouring out of the storage car park, and sped there way in every direction.

'How bout them apples, man?' I smirked as we sped of down the freeway, no cop in sight. It was free range from here.

'Good job, man', Enrique sighed, happy he wasn't being chased and he could breath easy. I laughed as I picked up the walkie-talkie.

'Hey thanks, thanks a lot Bro. You're clutch. I owe you big time', I shouted as Tej came back sounded rather unhappy.

'Yeah, Jude, you really do owe me, you really do…' he paused for a second, '…us. Suki says you owe us, all right?' I smiled as I turned down a small country road.

'What's up Rome, you there? Come in', I asked as he came back rather happy.

'Yeah, what's up man?' he shouted.

'Hey, it looks like we've got just one more trick left', I shouted in return.

'My pleasure, buddy, let's do it baby', he shouted as I smirked. It took awhile, but as I waited, I heard the faint screams of Roberto being ejected from the car. It was now my turn.

'Miss O'Connor, it worked! Blow and go baby, I'm all clear', he shouted as I nodded, 'Meet me at the point, hurry up, its on baby'.

'All right, 10-4, man', I answered calmly. I picked up the button, ready to press it when…

'Get off at Tarpon Point', Enrique said calmly, nodded to his left.

'Tarpon point?' I questioned confused, 'There's not airstrip at Tarpon point'.

'Who said anything about an airstrip?' he smirked at me as I panicked slightly and dropped the button.

'Jude?' shouted the walkie-talkie. It was Rome. 'Jude, what's the hold up, man?'

'Yo, Rome', I came back, choosing my words carefully. 'There's a new plan'.

'What the hell?' he shouted.

'We're meeting him at Tarpon Point exit, not the airstrip'; I came back, keeping side-glances on Enrique.

'So what are you saying?' Rome shouted back, I cursing him in my head.

'Like I said, there's a new plan', I replied as Enrique smirked at me, I looking worriedly at him.

'Jude?' Rome shouted as I put the walkie-talkie down. 'Jude? Hello, you there?'

I pulled up at Tarpon point and one of Verone's bodyguards walked up to my door, holding me in there with his gun as Verone and Monica stepped out of the car ahead. The first thing I saw was the shotgun in Verone's hand.

'It's all right, let her out', Verone ordered as the bodyguard stepped away and I got out slowly. I walked round the back, keeping my eyes on Verone as Enrique stood beside me.

'Pop the trunk', he ordered. They cleared the money and I was pushed roughly to the front of the car then over to Verone.

'Where's the rest of it?' Verone asked, panicking slightly.

'The other car', I muttered.

'Another car?' Verone questioned, 'Where's the other car?'

'On it's way?' I said gravely.

'On the way, huh?' Verone said, almost laughing.

'Yeah', I replied. 'Here's your money', I stated as I threw the bag I was holding at his feet.

'So you know nothing about the agents that stormed my jet?' he questioned as I just stared at him. He looked around, before finally looked back at me. 'The funny thing is, I only told one person about the airstrip'. I swallowed hard as he walked over to Monica and started stroking her cheek, 'Custom agents sure are getting pretty, aren't they?' I heard Enrique hold a gun to the back of my head.

'Put her on the boat', Verone ordered, waving his hand carelessly. His bodyguard went to grab her hand but she just slapped it away. 'Get on the boat', Verone stated heatedly holding the shotgun to her face. She glared before making her own way onto the boat.

'Hide the cars, and get rid of her', Verone ordered as I just glared.

'Back in the car', Enrique ordered, shoving the gun against my head. I walked to the driver's side of the car, and drove down the little road beside the jetty. 'End of the road', Enrique chuckled, holding the gun to my head. 'You know, I like you. But I still got to kill you. It's my job'. I started clicking the ejector button desperately as he looked down at my hand. 'What's that?' he shouted.

'It's Barstow baby, and it's about to get ugly', shouted Rome from the walkie-talkie as I heard an engine rev from behind. Rome crashed into the black car from behind and that gave me the opportunity to reach over and grabbed Enrique's hand and beat it against the dash to get him to let the gun go. He started firing, putting holes in the windscreen as I pulled his arm away. That was when the teeth sunk into my shoulder and I started screaming. I elbowed him in the head, dazing him a little as the door opened beside Enrique and Rome pulled him out, me tumbling out after him.

'Oh shit', I swore as Enrique got me in a headlock. That was before Rome kicked him full bolt in the head, knocking him away from me. I got up and held the gun on him as Rome continued to hit him. I looked at Rome before I kicked Enrique in the head, hard. I liked it so much I decided to do it again. Rome spat on him as I jumped and brought my right foot down in the middle of his back.

'Come on', Rome said, pulling me away before I did real damage. That was when he walked back and kicked him again before running after me. We watched the boat sail passed before running back to my car and kicking the windshield out. That was when I reversed backwards, speeding off after the boat.

'I thought you was dead, man', Rome yelled, sternly.

'Yeah, me too, thanks for saving my ass', I yelled back.

'What are you doing, Jude?' he shouted as I kept on speeding.

'I don't know', I shouted, 'If Verone sees a helicopter or a customs boat, she's dead!'

'Boat', Rome started, pointing out at the boat, 'Car', he said pointing into the car, 'Boat, car', he said together, before…'your not going to do what I think you're gonna do?'

'Yeah, I think so', I said calmly, 'You got my back?'

'Yeah', he said half-heartedly.

'All right man, put on the seat belt', I stated quickly reaching round and putting on mine.

'She him some real dukes of hazard shit, man', Rome shouted.

'We're gunna do this big!' I shouted, bracing myself, 'Hold on, Rome!'

Rome started yelling in his seat beside me. 'Awe, Jude your crazy man! What the hell you doing?'

I started yelling myself as we launched off of the ramp and went flying. That didn't last long as we came down with a huge bang, smack bang in the middle of Verone's boat. Bits were flying everywhere as Rome and I sat in the car, me holding my head groaning and Rome holding his arm.

'I think I broke my arm, man', he stated in pain. That was when I looked up in time to see Verone coming towards the car with his shotgun, cocking it. 'Get the gun man', Rome whispered, knocking his gun over to me as I picked it up and fired it at Verone, knocking him back just as he shot. I sat there gasping, Rome beside me, not knowing what to do as I saw Monica pop up, Verone's shot gun in hand.

'You ok?' I shouted out to her as she nodded.

'Yeah!' she replied, 'I'm great'. I relaxed back, dropping the gun as I looked over at Rome.

'We got him, man. We got him. Let's get out of here', he mumbled, sitting back too. I took off my seatbelt and got out as Rome just sat in the empty window space.

Rome and I were back on shore, sitting on a bunch of crates, laughing at each other about the jump. An emergency medical officer was tending to Rome's arm.

'That ought to do it', she smiled before walking off as Markham stepped up to us.

'So, there were three bags total? The three from the boat?' he questioned as I nodded.

'So, we're good right?' Rome asked, 'our records clean?'

'You held up your end', Markham answered, 'you're records are clean'. Rome got up and walked over to the remains of his car, unlocking the trunk, before pulling out the last three bags before dumping them in front of Markham.

'So, maybe there were six bags', Rome said sternly, 'I guess we can call it even'.

'Agent Dunn?' Markham called, shaking Rome's hand as Dunn ran over.

'Sir?' he questioned as Markham shook my hand.

'We've found some more evidence', Markham answered as I looked over at Rome who was looking over at Verone.

'Don't drop the soap, big homey', Rome shouted out as Verone just smirked.

'I hope you know that when he gets out, he's going to kill your ass', I said simply, smiling at Verone.

'He ain't getting out', Rome said, smile faltering.

'I'll see you soon', Verone smiled, as he got up.

'You think he gonna get out?' Rome asked me, smile completely gone now as I just laughed at him.

'He'll be out'; I smiled before walking off.

'No, for real, you think he getting out?' Rome asked, following me.

'We took care of your decoys. They're free and clear', Bilkins said, smiling at me as I walked up to him, 'There's a sedan out on the road for you, try to bring it back in one piece'. Rome and I chuckled.

'Thanks a lot, Bilkins', I smiled, shaking his hands, 'You're all right'.

'Thanks'; he smiled.

'Thanks for looking out man'; I smiled.

'So you trust me now?' Monica piped up, nodding to Rome.

'You all right', he smirked. She shook his hand as he groaned.

'Oh, sorry', she smiled before leaning over to me. 'Nice working with you O'Connor', she smiled, shaking my hand.

'Same here', I smirked as Bilkins and Fuentes walked off.

'Hm', Rome muttered, 'I might have to stay out here in Miami, and keep you out of trouble, bro'. We both cracked up laughing as I headed for the sedan. 'You know what I'm talking about'.

'You're going to kick it in Miami?' I asked.

'Oh, man, I love Miami. Miami is off the hook', he cheered as I smiled wider.

'Open a garage together?' I offered, as he looked at me funny.

'A garage?' he muttered oddly, 'How we gonna do that?'

I looked around before answering. 'Pockets ain't empty, cuz'.

He just laughed at me before lifting his shirt. 'We ain't hungry no more, right?'


	9. Chapter 9

'Where is Roman Pearce?' shouted the cop slamming his hands down on the interrogation desk.

'I don't know', I stated calmly, looking him straight in the eye. 'He flipped on me back in LA where you guys picked me up'.

'I think your lying to me', shouted the detective as I just scoffed.

'I'm an 18, almost 19 year old undercover cop, what the fuck did you expect?' I asked him with a chuckle.

'Fine, then start from when you left the harbour', the detective said, looking at his friend before sitting down and listening intently.

'We left the harbour and stopped by Tej's. He hooked us up a car and we were able to head back up to LA for a few days', I started before the detective coughed.

'So you headed up to LA, why didn't Bilkins pick you up?' asked the detective rather angrily.

'Because we hadn't even opened the fucking garage', I shouted, slamming my hands down on the desk in frustration as I headed to the corner of the small room.

The other detective in the room just turned around into the two way mirror and shouted: "Boss" before turning back and pointing towards the door while staring at the detective that was questioning me. Angrily the detective left while another bulky man walked in.

'My names Matt, no need to worry about my rank or my last name', the bulky man said as I just nodded at him and sat down in my original chair. 'So you headed up to LA for a few days, then what?'

'We got up to LA and Torreto's old space was up for sale so we bought it', I continued as Matt just nodded.

'Then where's Torreto?' this "Matt" asked me.

'How the hell am I supposed to know?' I answered.

'Back to heading up to LA for a little while?' he gestured for me to continue.

'That's basically when Rome…well when all the shit started to hit the fan', I finished.

'So let me get this straight, you basically just started up a garage and Roman Pearce started nicking the vehicles in order to supply the parts?' Matt asked as I just sighed.

'At first we ordered them, from Japan, Germany, Russia, all over the world, but then we started to run low on money', I sighed, running my hand through my hair. 'It was Rome's 6 month period to be in charge of money, he didn't tell me. I gave him the list of parts we needed, and he went and "ordered" them for me. In a month or so I had my part, I wasn't worried where they came from, that was until I was hearing on the news that all these parts were missing from cars'.

FLASHBACK

'Look, man. Your getting on my nerves, I could be back bloody relaxing, Jude, relaxing, but instead I'm here helping your white ass open a garage', Rome shouted.

'Get your ass back to Barstow trailer trash', I shouted at him, 'We don't steal cars here, we don't fucking steal cars to fix others', I shoved him backwards.

'I didn't fucking steal them, yo, those fuckers are damn crazy, man', Rome yelled.

'They caught you Rome, they have footage, it was on the news this morning', I shouted as he looked at me surprised before he grabbed a bag.

'Fuck this shit man, I don't need to cop shit from my best mate Jude', he shouted before chucking some clothes into the bag.

'You'll never change, Roman Pearce, you'll never take responsibility for your own actions', I stated in a calm voice.

'What?' he said scathingly.

'Man come off it, your still fucking blaming me for you getting arrested, you'll never change, man, your still the same old Roman Pearce from Barstow', and at that he had finished chucking clothes in and had left.

END OF FLASHBACK

I slung my satchel bag over my shoulder and headed into the throng of many students heading into the school. I was in Victorville.

'Come over here', the security officer asked me pulling me to the side as the metal detector I had walked through set off. I got out my wallet and the showed the security officer and he just nodded and let me through. I looked behind me and found someone else pulled to the side to get checked out.

I was back at school although not my original high school, god no. But it was slightly interesting to be back again. My pocket started to vibrate and I sighed, frustrated, before pulling out my mobile and answering it.

'Hello?' I asked.

'Are you at school?' they asked.

'Do I need a check up every five minutes?' I asked confused, they knew I was at school, I mean they basically followed me to school. 'You know I'm at school!'

'We need you to keep an eye on you, in case you run, we know you're capable of it', they stated.

'So you're basically stopping me from being a teenager?' I questioned before hanging up. Stuffing my phone back in my pocket someone brushed passed me making me stumble slightly.

'My bad', he said in a very southern accent.

'It's all good', I nodded at him as he smiled before turning around and walking off.

I was brought back to school for one reason, and one reason only, to keep me from getting in any more trouble that the cops could put me in jail for. Being and undercover cop for nearly two years, they didn't exactly want to put their finest in jail.

'Hey wait', I shouted out to him as he stopped just ahead.

'What's up?' he asked me smiling slightly.

'Where's Calc, Miss Nita's?' I asked and he just laughed.

'I'm in that class, meet me say just over there, after home room and I'll help?' he offered as I nodded.

'Thanks man', I smiled before walking off to the front office.

'A girl that acts like a guy, hm, lovely', said someone behind me, I turned around to find a baseball player standing behind me leaning on a baseball bat.

'Go play with your hose some where else, Bat boy', I stated annoyed before walking off in the direction of the front office.

'Jude O'Conner, aged 18, I'm sorry, what's your address honey?' the lady at the front desk asked as I just sighed.

'I don't have one', I muttered handing her the letter the officers had handed me. It was to give to the lady anyway, but the fact that I had to give it to her made it embarrassing.

'Oh, thank you, honey', she smiled softly. I don't know whether she was slightly worried about talking to me now because of what I was or whether she was just feeling sorry for me, either way things were getting uncomfortable. 'You've got your timetable do you need a guide to help you?'

'No, I'm fine thanks, I asked someone', I smiled half heartedly as she just nodded and handed me my books that I'd need for the rest of the year and shooed me away with a motherly smile. She felt sorry for me. A loud constant siren rang before I heard everybody rush through the halls; it was time for homeroom.

'The lady at the front office called me in, told me I was to show you around', said someone from behind me, it as the frog looking Jock boy again.

'I can find my own way, thanks', I smiled sarcastically before walking out of the office and down the halls.

I was sitting in homeroom as the teacher read out the class list, turning to my computer I started playing solitaire, the Internet bored me slightly and the teacher was putting me to sleep. I watched the clock on my computer, according to the timetable we had exactly one minute left of homeroom. And the loud siren struck again as everybody grabbed their tote bags and all the other fancy shit they liked and headed off for their first class.

'I never got your name'; I sighed tiredly, walking up to the guy I had bumped into.

'Boswell, Sean Boswell', he said smiling.

'Well, Mr. Bond, lead the way', his smile slowly vanished into a smirk as he winked and walked ahead. He surprisingly got the joke.

'Oh, James Bond', he said randomly. Maybe, not.

'Someone's a clever puppy'; I scoffed.

'Right here', Sean muttered pointing towards a door were a fair few people were heading. 'Calc'.

'Flick it again', Sean shouted as I pushed the wrench to the right with all my strength. We were in Mechanics, the class just before lunch.

'Better?' I asked as he cheered.

'Jude?' He asked as I used my feet to wheel me out from underneath the car. I gripped the wrench a little tighter and walked off. Looking around the corner into the spray area, a bunch of guys were holding a fat kid and spraying his stomach with spray paint. They stopped for a second looking at me worriedly before I shook my head and turned around. I dropped the wrench back in the toolbox and walked out.

It was much like that in all my classes, the teachers didn't seem to round the students, they were like a pack of wild animals.

'Oi, you need a lift?' I asked Sean as we headed out of the school and into the car park.

'Uh, yeah that'd be good', I smiled as I headed over to my car. The jocks and cheerleaders were all doing their thing in the car park, except one person. She sat on the head of the seat, painting her toenails a funny coloured pink.

'Nice ride', she smirked as she saw Sean walking up to the car. He smiled opening the car door.

'It does the job', he replied.

'What job, delivering pizza's?' she laughed as Sean just smirked.

'Well, it's not the ride, it's the rider', he replied smoothly and I almost had the urge to congratulate him.

'Hey', exclaimed the frog looking jock that I had been seeing all day, 'what the hell was that?' he was talking to the girl.

'What?' she said innocently, to which she was rightly named. She had done **nothing**.

'Hey! You talking to my girl?' he shouted at Sean. I could hear his friends poking fun in the background.

'She was just admiring…' Sean paused while looking at me and then my car, '…my ride'.

'My grandma's Buick could smoke that piece of shit, trailer trash'; the jock laughed. Sean whipped his head around to glare at me telling me not to screw things up now, and I almost reached over the roof of the car to slap him, but decided against it.

'Well, what about your daddy's viper?' Sean asked.

'This beast's got 500 horsepower and a Borla exhaust system. It does zero to sixty in like four point three seconds… ' The jock recited looking at his friends while smiling.

'Wow', Sean laughed, 'You can read the brochure'. He got into the car and just laughed as I subtly handed him the keys, he smiled out the window at the jock before starting up the car and driving out. We had gotten almost 10 metres before a baseball was thrown through the back window.

Before Sean could even stop the car, I had gotten out and was just about to run at them when Sean stepped out. He stood stock still while the Jock and his friends stalked up to us. They stopped walking for some odd reason, which was until I looked at Sean to find him slowly letting a wrench fall into view.

'Why don't you guys let your cars do the talking?' offered the girl from the car.

'I only race for pink slips'; Sean smiled. I just stood there looking straight ahead, trying not to make it to obvious that I was going kill someone, while waiting for a reply. I couldn't help but think about how the cops were going to pin me for this now, even though I had nothing to do with it.

'This car goes for eighty grand. What would I do with a broken ass piece of shit like that?' the Jock smirked. I turned to Sean and glared and he just stared back before smirking back at the jock.

'How about me?' the girl stepped forward. 'Winner…gets…me!' that sealed the deal, for Sean anyway.

I now find myself following a bunch of preppy "I Love My Life" kind of people as they break into a house development called "Shangri-La Estates".

'Break my car, I break your neck, got that?' I asked Sean turning to him.

He didn't say anything as we lined up at the starting point and I put on my seat belt, which made me uneasier for some reason. The car beside us revved the engine and then Sean did the same. The last time I had been in a race like this, I fried piston rings and nearly blew myself up.

The bra dropped and we were off. The jock pulling up ahead and cutting us off from getting passed him, each time we tried the jock would cut us off again. We tried again and smacked into a bunch of plastic tubes, before getting back on track.

Sean finally decided to take action as we made our way up onto the dirt track, hoping to by pass him, but no luck. He shot ahead before we had to turn the corner. Sean stepped on the brakes trying hard not to smash into the porta-potties, but no luck. I swore allowed before Sean got back on track to follow the Jock once more.

He turned the corner to head down the home stretch, but once we started to speed up, he panicked and changed the track a little and he swerved to his left down another road. The jock turned to his left at another intersection while we took the dirt road just before it, yet again, in hopes of beating him.

My eyes widened as I saw what was up ahead, machinery was blocking our way.

'Remember, you break my car, I break your neck', I reminded him.

'I know', he shouted. Sean went up a gear and sped on further only to go speeding through a developing house, smashing right through the support beams. We came up behind the Jock and his girlfriend, before speeding up to come side by side with them. Sean winked, she smiled and the next thing I knew was, we were getting rammed.

Each time they rammed us the side of my car was getting dented and my paint was getting scratched, not to mention that my neck managed to crack a couple of times.

'That was them', Sean said turning to me for a second. I felt like laughing at him, but I was to bloody worried about the outcome that this race might have. Sean had both hands on the steering wheel getting us back on track. The Jock rammed us again, this time we went up on top of their car before coming back down on the road.

They went to ram us again, but caught the front end, which spun them around in a cloud of dust, making me lose sight of the road, not to mention the lack of sight Sean had. I saw them crash into a huge cement tube before I saw Sean heave on the steering wheel. We turned quickly to miss the people watching and flipped the car. We rolled a good seventeen or eighteen times before coming to a stop on the roof, both hands still on the steering wheel.

'Remember, it was their fault', was Sean's last words.

The phone rang for what seemed like the tenth time since we got there. We were all sitting in a row at the police station, Sean, me, Barbie and Ken. Sean winked and smiled at the girl with his bloody grin as she turned away sickened.

'Officer O'Conner', an unknown officer muttered walking into the waiting room. I stood up and headed over, not daring to look back at the awkward stares I would be facing.

The officers pulled me in and sat me down in a chair in the middle of the interview room.

'When will you learn, O'Conner?' the current detective asked. Not even offering me a cup of coffee.

'Learn what, sir, how to become like you?' I asked him icily.

'When will you learn that not the whole world would like to kiss your ass', he answered as I just sat there, weezing.

'I'm 18…' I started.

'And the whole world is against you. Let me guess the rest of your sucker story. You never had a child hood; you were dragged into police affairs since you can remember. We've all heard it before O'Conner, you can't keep using that as an excuse', he finished.

'Then throw me in jail, end the torment I seem to be inflicting on your station', I sighed. A TV and VCR were wheeled in and Sean followed suit.

'Let me show you why you're here, huh?' the detective decided, as Sean kept eyeing me from the corner. I was wondering why I was the one on trial, hadn't he been the one driving, or was I mistaken? They replayed back the car race and bursting through the developing house.

'Can I get a copy of that?' Sean smirked from the corner as the detective turned around. I just shook my head and tried my hardest not to sigh sarcastically.

'You think this is a joke, huh?' he asked, angrily. 'And you…' he said turning to me, 'You see Ken and Barbie over there? They're going to walk out of here without even a slap on the wrist. Mommy and daddy are too hooked up'. I just rolled my eyes. 'But I like screw-ups like you, you know why? Cause your one hundred percent guaranteed conviction'.

'Enough, man', stated an officer waiting by the door. I stood up quickly without a moment's hesitation.

'Where's my car?' I muttered.

'I crushed it', smirked the detective.

'You did what?' I shouted getting up angrily.

'Sit Down', Sean mouthed from the corner, pointing at me worriedly. I still couldn't get why he was here.

'Your done', the detective spat as he reached over and tried to push me down, 'And all before your 19th birthday'.

'Easy, Easy, Easy!' the Officer by the door, stated as he sat me back down. A knock on the door sounded and in walked someone I thought I would never in my life see again.

'Jude', he whispered as he pulled my face to the side to look at my head wound. 'Ouch, aye?'

'Where did you go?' I choked. 'Where were you, Brian?'

'Officer O'Conner? Please', the detective sighed as he seated Brian at the end of the table. Before seating himself across the table.

'It's Brian, just Brian', Brian muttered as I looked over at Sean who looked to be thinking along the same lines I was, why was he here and why was I the one being drilled.

'It's a tough state. And it's a pretty clear-cut case. She'll be lucky if they don't try her as an adult', the detective said seriously.

'She's been a cop for nearly 3 years running, does that not count for anything?' Brian asked.

'You yourself are an officer, am I right?' asked the detective as Brian nodded.

'Yeah, 6 years running', he whispered.

'Can I interrupt this love story and ask why he's sitting there like an angel?' I asked the detective pointing over at Sean.

'We'll get to him', the detective muttered.

'Then why can't he wait outside, huh?' I asked.

'Yeah, I really don't need to here their life story', Sean piped up. A knock on the door sounded and in walked a flustered looking mother.

'Is that…?' I whispered over to Sean. He nodded and I kind of understood why he was there.

'Sean', she said as she pulled his face to the side to look at his head wound. 'What the hell were you thinking, huh?'

'Mrs Boswell? Please', the detective smiled as he seated Sean's mum at the other end of the table. Before seating himself back in his own chair.

'It's um, it's miss', said Sean's mum as Sean and I looked at each other again. 'Officer, is it illegal, to smoke in here?' she pulled out a cigarette and the detective lit it for her.

'It's a tough state. And it's a pretty clear-cut case. He'll be lucky if they don't try him as an adult', the detective said seriously. Sean and I looked at each other again, feeling a sense of Déjà vu. I passed my look of confusion onto Brian who just shook his head slightly.

'Your son's got two priors for reckless driving, wilful destruction of property. This makes it strike three!' the detective stated as I followed Sean's gaze outside as Ken and Barbie were being babied by their parents. 'They definitely want to get him off the streets'.

'What about Jude?' Brian butted in.

'We'll get to her', the detective muttered.

'Now, see this is why you don't have two interviews at once. How long have you been an officer, sir?' I asked him. He turned to me angrily.

'Six months longer than you have, now sit there and shut up', he growled as Sean's mother looked at me then at Brian.

'Well, there's just got to be another way', his mum tried.

Sean and I were sat outside. Brian was still inside, apparently, he had something to sort out as well. I stood there staring at Sean while he stared at his shoes.

'So you're an undercover cop?' Sean asked.

'Two years running, nearly three, why?' I asked him.

'But your only eighteen', he questioned.

'My first assignment, they needed someone into racing, basically into the world and could fit right in, and my bro was an officer, so they got me into it', I smiled, 'Simple as that'.

'So why were you following me?' he asked.

'I wasn't. I got into shit in L.A. I opened a garage and my partner decided to lay the five-finger discount to everything. The only way for me not to get thrown in jail was to go to school and not get into trouble, tough break, eh?' I chuckled as he just smirked.

'You had fun, right?' Sean asked.

'I supposed if you call a bruised rib, many cuts and bruises and a concussion fun, then yes, I had fun', I laughed.

'Come on, Officer O'Connor', uttered the detective before he grabbed my arm and walked me away from Sean as his mum had just gotten out of the interview room.

'So where are we moving this time?' was all I heard Sean say before the detective shoved me around the corner. Brian was standing there. I hadn't seen him leave the conference room.

'His mum is sending him to Tokyo to live with his father, and guess what?' Brian smiled.

'I'm getting sent back to school?' I suggested, hopefully as Brian looked at me sadly. He opened a door to my right and walked me in there before sitting me down.

'Mum never called you did she?' Brian whispered, sitting himself across the table from me.

'Called me about what?' I muttered.

'After you let Torreto slip, the rents got into a huge fight. Something along the lines of Mum thought you did the right thing, dad saying you were still a child and you weren't cut out to do what you were doing', Brian skimmed through the rest of the story.

'And?' I wheezed, barely able to swallow. I knew what was coming, but didn't want to hear it.

'They split up Jude, they've been separated for nearly a year, mum still lives in Arizona, and dad lives in…'

'Tokyo', I sighed.

'This is all your fault', I grumbled, glaring at Sean on my right.

'How is this my fault, if you had of gone with your instinct, we wouldn't be here right now, would we?' he growled back.

'And if you weren't such a Pig-headed egotistical dick-head, I wouldn't have to have an instinct to run by, now would I?' I sneered.

'I hate babies', he complained as a baby started crying a few rows back.

'Amen', I grumbled, as I looked, passed a lonely Asian woman, out the window.

Grabbing our luggage we headed through customs and headed out to the parking lot. Sean and I stood there for almost two hours waiting for his father, no luck.

'Where's your dad?' I yawned.

'No idea', he grumbled, 'Taxi!'

'Got the money?' I asked, looking at him.

'You're the cop, make some appear', he looked at me expectantly.

'Not going to happen, I'm a cop for America, under force, not by choice, meaning, I cannot possibly appear with Japanese Yen', I glared as he just opened the door of the taxi that appeared and indicated for me to hop in while he helped the taxi driver put our stuff in the back.

'You owe me', he growled getting in beside me.

'Why?' I yawned, resting my head on his shoulder, hoping to get to sleep.

'Because I'm giving him my guitar', he grumbled, scooting down lower in his seat, and I found it less comfortable. Taking off my jacket, I rolled it up into a ball and sat it on his lap and rested my head on it. 'Comfy?'

'Yes, I am thank you'; I answered before yawning again.

'Jude…' someone was muttering, shaking me. 'Jude!'

'What?' I shouted jumping up and hitting my head on the roof of the cab. 'Oh!'

'We're here', he said, getting out and holding the door open for me to get out afterwards. I grabbed my jumper that had fallen on the floor and slipped it on before Sean got back inside and closed the door. I grabbed my bag out of the back of car.

'It was nice knowing you', I smiled leaning down near the window.

'We'll catch up, I know where you live, remember', he smiled softly.

'Catch you', I yawned as the Taxi driver pulled out and drove the two of them off, leaving me behind to freeze my ass off.

I walked up to a screen door and pressed the little button beside it. I heard a little buzzing noise and waited. I looked around while before I smiled at the guy riding passed on a scooter. I turned back and pressed the button again and yet again the buzzing noise sounded. The screen door moved to the side and out popped a grey haired man with a dressing gown on.

'Jude?' he asked, sounding surprised to see me there, 'I thought you were going to be here on the seventh?'

'Today is the seventh'; I answered heatedly.

'Well, look, hold on just one second', he said before closing the door. I glared at the closed door before looking behind me. I was falling asleep on my feet, I desperately needed to get warm or sit down or something.

The door opened again and this time the grey haired man had a jacket in his hands and out walked a Japanese lady with smudged lipstick and tired eyes. He helped her put on her jacket and they said a few things in Japanese before she walked off.

'Come on in', he whispered as he led the way inside.

'This is it', the grey haired man mumbled as I walked in, kind of cramped with my entire luggage. 'You know, Jude, I was going to be there, but your mum, she said the 7th, see, and we're a day ahead of you in Japan'.

I just looked up from searching the room and glared at him and he went back to folding up the blanket in his hand.

'Well, you're here now, and that's good', he muttered as I just stood there and was yet again falling asleep on my feet. 'So, how is your mum?'

'Where do I sleep?' I growled, and looked intently.

'Now, Jude, you know Brian had no other choice. I mean it was either this or jail. I mean you just can't keep running away every time you get in trouble', he muttered.

'Worked for you', I growled.

'Look, neither of us asked for this', dad started. I didn't say anything just tried my hardest to avoid eye contact with him. He broke up with my mother for a very stupid reason; I wasn't going to forgive him quickly. 'Look, Jude, I promised your mum and Brian that I'd take care of you, so you just go by the rules her and I agreed to and I'm sure you'll manage just fine', dad smiled.

'Rules?' I asked incredulously.

'Yeah. Rules. Real simple', he chuckled falsely, 'you go to school, you come back here right after. And I don't want to see or hear about you anywhere near a car'.

'Here, the bedrooms yours', he said, sliding open a door to a room that looked like it could fit half a person in it because it was so jam packed full with clothes already. 'Make yourself comfortable', he said before walking over to the couch.

'Lights out in ten', he muttered, as I dumped my bags just inside the door. Grabbing a pair of my boxers from the top of my bag I did a quick change. I looked around, noticing all the small things around the place before I pulled back the curtain. There sat a little old Japanese lady eating noodles. She turned around with a mouthful and waved. I waved back and closed the curtain. Slipping off my shoes, I left my socks on before sitting on the bed.


	10. Chapter 10

A loud ringing noise sounded and I jolted. What the fuck was waking me up so early. Opening my eyes, I looked straight ahead and found the source of the irritating noise. One of those foldable clocks that people in the Army or the Navy had. And below it hung a pleated black skirt, a white blouse with a tight-ish looking blouse-y jumper, a tie and a pair of small-heeled shoes.

'Do I have time for Coffee?' I asked myself, yawning, grabbing a Satchel bag from the chair that seemed to be labelled with my name. I walked out of the house, not knowing how to lock it up, so I just left it.

I grabbed a map off a near by stand before reaching into my bag and grabbing out a piece of Yen and he gave me some back. My dad had given me money.

I headed down into a tunnel type thing and came across these computers, I typed in the information needed and it spat out my ticket. After finding the train I needed, I was shoved onto it and was basically back to front with half of Japan.

I reached my stop and the horde of people on the train spat me out and I looked at my watch, before realising that it wouldn't have been set back. I ran as fast as I could in the direction the map said and I reached the school, late.

Running through the halls I looked in several classrooms, hoping it was mine till I finally reached it. I walked in and the teacher was already teaching the lesson. I looked around at the back of the classroom searching for a seat and found one. The teacher noticed me and walked over.

'Wrong train', I said loudly, 'I'm new here'.

'O'Conner, san', she smiled, looking at me.

'Yorishuku', she said, bowing at me before looking at my feet, surprised. She started talking in gibberish and I looked at her, confused. Only one word stood out and she kept repeating it.

'Uwabaki', she kept repeating and the girl in the front row smiled, I smiled back a little nervous. I headed outside of the classroom and took off my shoes before finding a white pair of shoes in a slot.

'Uwabaki', I muttered to myself as I slipped them on and walked into class, taking the seat at the back.

It was lunchtime and I was a little worried about what the food was like. I grabbed a tray and walked along the line to find something to eat. People were pushing in everywhere, hoping to get their favourite food before it ran out.

'Japanese food is like the Army', came an American voice from beside me as I was looking down at my plate. I looked up to at least put a face to the voice. 'Don't ask, don't tell', he scoffed, sitting down. 'Names Twinkie, Hey I noticed you ain't have a laptop', he said searching through his bag and pulled out a silver laptop.

'Yeah?' I asked, not interested.

'I'll hook you up, half price', Twinkie smiled.

'No I'm cool', I muttered, picking up something on my plate and eating it.

'60 off, since we're both army brats and everything', Twinkie tried.

'I ain't got no cash, man', Sean replied, 'and I ain't an army brat'.

'All right, all right, well, what about a cell phone, huh?' Twinkie tried again. 'Everybody needs a cell phone'.

'No offence, but I'm, probably not going to be here long enough to remember your name', Sean muttered, taking another bite of something.

'Then your going to need some new shoes to book town with, man', Twinkie smiled.

'You like Michael Jordan?' Twinkie asked with a smirk, 'I love Michael Jordan'.

'Check this out, Brand new Jordan's, not even out yet', Twinkie smiled, 'LeBron James couldn't even get his hands on those'. There, on the table sat a bright red pair of Jordan's. I was fixed. My gaze locked onto this kids bag.

'You selling that Sparco steering wheel?' I asked as Twinkie just shook his head.

'Hell no. That's mine right there', he smirked. 'Man, I even paid retail for it'.

'What you drive?' I asked. I knew where this was going, hence why I asked.

'Oh, my ride?' Twinkie smirked.

'Yeah', I muttered.

'My rides one of a kind', Twinkie said proudly.

'Show me', I ordered.

'Thought you weren't sticking around', Twinkie laughed. 'All right', Twinkie smirked.

An hour or so later found me standing beside Twinkie at a car park, still in my school uniform, I wasn't smart enough to pack spare clothes in my bag. Twinkie with his wheel in hand and me with my arms crossed, we waited.

The doors to the car holder opened and I looked at Twinkie in disbelief that the American muscle car sitting in front of me could be his. Twinkie shook his head and we both looked back to find that a bunch of bikes had gone passed and was now looking at the back end of a Ferrari.

Twinkie shook his head again and I was wondering whether he even had a car. Up popped a green VW Touran. Bright green with the Hulk's hands, trying to come through with bright purple interior.

'Slamming huh?' Twink shouted, excitedly. 'Look at that car, man'.

'At least let me drive', I said snatching Twinkie's steering wheel and headed for the drivers side. 'Ya'll better have some real cars around here'; I said moments later.

'Okay, I see somebody got jokes, huh?' Twinkie laughed, 'Well all right. I don't know if you're ready for them, though. You look a little nervous'. 'What up, Tosh?' Twinkie yelled to the guy leaning against he glass of a building, whom then moved forward and lifted up the boom gate. We drove down into a car park and I couldn't believe my eyes.

Car's galore, and some girls, but the cars, Whoo. I leant forward and looked out from over top of the steering wheel, mouth open looking at all the CARS!

Twinkie threw a box of tissues into my lap and I laughed, knowing why, but I picked it up and looked at him.

'For when you blow your bundle', Twinkie said seriously. We parked up and I got out as soon as possible.

'Hey, twink?' I asked.

'Yo?' he muttered, turning to face me.

'You got a pair of pants around here somewhere?' I asked, opening the back door.

'Behind the seat in a bag, why?' he asked.

'I'm getting out of this flouncy skirt', I muttered, getting up and bending over the backseat.

'Whoo', I heard Twinkie mutter. I grabbed out a pair of baggy jeans from the bag and turned around to find Twinkie staring off into space at me.

'What?' I asked, looking at him. Twinkie shook before turning around. I rolled my eyes before pushing my legs into the legs of the pants and pulling it up underneath my skirt. Undoing the skirt I pulled it off and sat it on the seat of the car before closing the door.

I left Twinkie to his business and wound my way through the lines of people and cars, checking out the stock they had. I had heard so much of this scene from Dominic Torreto, but never in my life did I think I'd see it. I heard tyre's screeching before a car pulled up. I watched the girl from the front row of my first class get out and I smiled. She was going on about a problem with her engine.

'You wouldn't have that problem with a V8', I smirked, walking round in front of her car, looking underneath the hood.

'Americans. All they care about is who has got the biggest engine', she smiled sarcastically.

'Well, I'm American, it's in my DNA', I smiled, looking at her, 'So you all race with these things, huh, cute little toys?'

'You know, I almost didn't recognise you without your slippers on'; she laughed.

'Don't you mean, Uwabaki?' I corrected her. She laughed. 'Neela, right?'

'You're a quick learner', she said, pushing me out of the way so she was able to put the hood down.

'Who's the tourist?' I heard a guy called DK ask.

'What's with you and the school girls, D?' I heard another guy ask. 'You're moving up in the world, you got to elevate your company'.

'Oi!' a guy shouted over to me.

'She was just leaving', Twinkie answered for me as he slowly tried to push me away. I looked around confused, that was until the guy started speaking in Japanese, and then I became more confused.

'I'm sorry, I don't speak Japanese', I said politely, standing strong. The guy had wrapped his arms around Neela, and kissed her neck.

'Understand that, _Gaijin_?' DK said, obviously trying to insult me. Everybody around us, gasped, shook their head or just looked away, but I just looked confused for a quick moment before turning back to the problem at hand.

'Takashi', Neela snapped, turning around slightly to look at him.

'We were just talking'; I calmed him.

'This isn't your scene', Neela breathed, her face much more stern than the laughter I had seen on it earlier. I was using my cop training to its advantage as I caught the sight of a silver wrench being gripped by a man behind the two guys.

'That word you called me, _Gaijin_, or something or other, what does that mean exactly?' I asked with genuine interest.

'It means, turn around, keep walking', the guy said sarcastically, smiling the whole time while Neela glanced between the two of us.

'That's exactly what we going to do. Come on, man, let's roll', Twinkie said. He was pushing me away, and managed to push me a fair way away. 'Yo look man, he's yakuza'.

'Now see, that's funny', I smiled. Twinkie growled and threw his hands up in the air as I made my way back. 'Cause, I thought this was, like, a free country, where a girl could talk to whoever she wants, I mean we're girls, what could possibly happen?'

'You know who I am, little girl?' DK asked, stepping right up into my face. For a "man" he sure was short.

'Yeah. You're like the Justin Timberlake of Japan, right?' I suggested, smirking. DK laughed and looked like he was about to punch me, girl or not, but Neela stepped in and pushed him back a little saying something in Japanese.

'Leave', Neela ordered, turning around while DK just did god knows what. I just looked at her and she was serious.

'Damn man', Twinkie muttered, pulling me away. 'You know, _Yakuza_?The mafia?'

'Look, sorry DK-san. Monkey didn't have her banana today', Twinkie apologised as I just looked angrily at the back of his head.

'Hey D, let's go', suggested a guy that had been watching the whole time. I had watched him sit on the hood of his car, so I watched him get off it. 'It's time to race'.

Some of DK's friends made monkey noises but that didn't bother me. Neela guided them off while looking back at me. That really pushed my buttons. No punch up.

'Good luck, Timberlake', I shouted out as DK turned around and came charging at me. He came right up into my face again and all I could think of was "Tic-Tac".

'You're the one that's lucky, because I'm about to race'; DK sneered as I just smiled.

'Then let's race', I offered and he laughed.

'With what, huh? Your skateboard?' he laughed, as the rest of his mates just smirked. 'Easy to sound cocky when you got no ride'.

'Take mine', called out the guy I had been watching part of the time, throwing his keys at me. I caught them easily, not taking my eyes away from DK's.

'Let's race', DK smiled as I just licked my lips before turning away.

'What?' I heard the guy mumble, 'I wanna see what the kid's got'.

We headed up the floors in the elevator. No body moved, we both stood there silent, and it was killing me.

'Can he drive?' I asked Twinkie.

'Can he drive?' Twinkie scoffed. He looked away from me for a second before deciding to humour me with trivia. 'You know what DK stands for?'

'Donkey Kong?' I suggested, not really caring.

'Drift King', Twinkie said looking rather insulted.

'Drift?' I asked, rather confused. I had heard of it before back L.A when I was with Torreto, but never really discussed further, said there was never really any drift scenes so there was no need for me to learn it. 'What, do you mean, Drift?'

We finally reached our floor and the doors opened to many ear piercing screams and two cars sliding sideways across the track. 'Still need a dictionary?' Twinkie smirked as he led me over to the car whose keys of life I was holding currently.

'You know that real famous painting? The one of the woman who's smiling all the time?' Twinkie asked.

'The Mona Lisa?' I laughed.

'Right, right, right, Mona Lisa', Twinkie muttered, 'Well look, man, this car right here's like the Mona Lisa of the drift world. Han rebuilt this bad boy from ground up. We're talking forged pistons, bigger turbo, new rods, and new crankshaft. Hey, man, Han's labour ain't cheep, man, you feel me?'

'Well', I started nervously, coughing a little to clear my throat, 'If I needed a thirty second lesson on how to drift…' I left the sentence hanging, not sure I wanted to finish that in case Twinkie exploded.

'All right, look, man, there's lots of ways you can do this, all right? Hand-breaking is the easiest, so the first thing I want you to do is rip that e-brake. All right, if you rip that e-brake, then I want you to power over', Twinkie said seriously as I just looked at him confused.

'You know what? Just don't mess up Mona, all right?' Twinkie advised as I just nodded, not sure whether I could make a promise to do that or not.

I clipped my seat belt on slowly, still trying to figure my way out of this, but so far no luck. I looked around outside of the car and watched Neela edge up to DK and take his jacket for him and then walk off.

I can feel the butterfly's in my stomach, and it's not feeling to good either it's like anarchy has broken loose and it's cannibalistic butterflies instead of the cute fluttery ones like it says in their name.

A guy walks up in the middle of our two cars maybe a metre or two in front. He threw his cigarette at the floor and stubbed it out with his shoes before indicating for us to signal that we were ready and willing. DK revved his engine first and I revved Mona's. The guy in the middle stepped closer to the cars, pointing to a girl on each side.

One on DK's side uttered Ready, the one on mine, Setto, and then to signal the beginning of the race, the guy in the middle shouted the most legendary word in the whole of the English dictionary…Go.

We sped off and I shat myself as I came out front. Normally I would be screaming in triumph, but not this time. I had no idea what I was meant to be doing and that frightened me more than running into the Torreto's. I started to get the hang of it, and changed up a gear while smiling wide, that was until I saw the turn. The only thing blocking the watchers was a couple of traffic cones, made out of thick plastic but not thick enough to save their lives.

I pulled on the hand break and swerved towards them and then away from them in hopes it would get me around the middle pillar, away from the one in front and away from the watchers. SMACK. I crashed into the pillar in front. The middle left side of Han's car was totalled. I sat there and watched DK do exactly as I did, but instead of the big crash bang sequence he glided smoothly around the corner and kept on going.

I smacked the steering wheel before putting it in gear again and taking off. I made it around the next corner, but simply for the fact that even a three year old driving this car could've made it around it. I kept on DK's tail for the next straight, and tried not to throw up as I saw the sharp turn I was to make, a 180 and still get around the pillars, yeah right, easy as.

I watched as if in slow motion, as DK went round, his tail end barely making it through, there was probably about a five inch gap between the bumper and the wall. I watched his exact moves and copied everyone, and where did it get me. Smacking up against the wall, this time damaging the right side of the car.

We had another similar one eighty turn but it wasn't that tight of a squeeze so I made it through, with a squeeze. Around another turn and making it, I managed to breathe now, although not to well, but still, it was still breathing.

I came up to another turn and this one I cleared, partially, as I came around it I swerved and came crash bang into somebody else's car, with DK parked in the middle of the track. I looked over at him from my crashed position and he leant his arm out the window and did the over rated matrix thing with two fingers, in other words, waving for me to keep going so he can kick my arse.

I put it in gear just as he reversed rather quickly. He spun around and made his way along the track again me not far behind, still trying my hardest not to kill myself. I pulled around another turn, barely, in time to see DK "drift" up a ramp to the top of the parking lot.

To finish the race I had to make it up there, at first I attempted to drift, but figured that I sucked balls all the way through the easiest part of the track, there was no point tormenting myself by trying anymore. So I just drove up the swirling ramp, but with the amount of crashes through out the course, it wasn't easy.

I made it up the top with the bumper flying off, the engine barely running and people running screaming from the wreck. Twinkie circled the car before walking passed the drivers side door shaking his head. I looked around for the one person that practically got me in this mess, Neela. She was walking away with DK.

'Don't leave town', came a voice out of no-where and I noticed Han's face hovering above the window before he walked off.

I reached for the door and slid it open slowly, poking my head through first to see whether I could see my dad or not. I tensed up.

'Do you know what time it is?' my dad asked, as I stepped in.

'I thought it was seven o'clock, you know, US is a few hours behind', I muttered, taking off my jacket. 'Looks like the party was better here anyway', I muttered, looking at the empty beer bottles on the table.

'Have you been racing, Jude?' he asked stepping closer to me. If I were my dad, I wouldn't fall for my smart-ass answer, either. I didn't say anything and dad just nodded his head.

'Your out of here', he sneered, walking away and snatching the phone up off the table.

'Go ahead', I muttered, heading angrily for my room, but before I could get there; he snatched at my arm and whipped me around.

'You don't get it, do you?' he stated angrily. 'You have nowhere else to go. If it doesn't work out here your going to jail, you get that?'

I ripped my arm away from his grip.

'This isn't a game', he muttered to me which made me stumble, he had anger written all over his features and the last person I had seen look like that had been… 'I'm going to tell you one more time, if your going to live under my roof, your going to go by my rules, or get out…' he left the sentence hanging.

'Understand?' he growled. I just nodded. 'Understand?' he yelled.

'Yes, Sir', I said before heading into the room. I sat on the bed, I couldn't move. I was having flashbacks. Flashbacks of Home, of L.A, of Brian, of Miami, of Rome, it got to me. I didn't even have time to close the door; I just fainted.

This morning was the same as the last. I was awoken by the same alarm clock. Woke up to the same uniform, except it wasn't hung neatly on a coat hanger. The same bag, slung across my floor, and the same pouch of money, maybe a little smaller than the last time.

I headed out, forgetting about coffee, or breakfast, and made my way through the population of Japan to get to school. I was getting stares on the train, and even as I got off it. From fellow students, from random people, probably wondering why all these students were looking at me.

The stares didn't stop as I walked through the halls of the school; in fact, they intensified. I walked passed Twinkie, and a few people I remember from the underground, and they all shook their heads, I couldn't figure out whether it was from sympathy or not.

They continued through out the day, some people smiled, some people pointed as I walked away, some even just growled as I walked passed, but either way, they weren't going to stop.

School finally finished and I made my miserable way out of the gates ready to get mushed into half of Japan in order to get home. But the sight of a car stopped me in my tracks, and the guy leaning on it, didn't help either. More students were staring at me as I made my way slowly over to him. He didn't look happy.

'Get in', he said, indicating with his head to the car.

'I'll get you your money', I stated, just wanting to get home.

'Why you talking like you have a choice?' he asked as he got up and got in, waiting for me to get into the passenger side. We made our way around the corner and then around another to a small little street.

'There's a guy in there with a paw that owes me some money'; Han stated looking at the front door of a rank looking building, before looking at me.

'A Paw?' I asked confused.

'Go get me my money', Han ordered.

'How am I supposed to get in, it's for guys?' I asked him but he just looked away.

'Okay', I muttered, opening the door and getting out. I slowly made my way over as a few people down the street looked at me funny as I walked up the stairs.

I stepped inside, still in my school uniform, and looked around, the outside was golden compared to the inside. All of a sudden I hear a voice yelling at me. I look around worried as I saw a guy holding out his hand for money. I grabbed some out of my pocket and placed it in his hand. In exchange he gave me a towel. This was going to be weird.

Trying my hardest not to puke, I made my way through the half naked old men, and tried to look for what Han meant by a "paw". And then, I saw it. It was a large guy, and when I say large, I mean large guy, with a tattoo of a tiger's arm outstretched over his shoulder.

I looked around once more, before slowly making my way over to him. I noticed the paw on his shoulder and faltered a bit as I noticed his full size.

'Oyasumi Masen', I stated in Japanese. He didn't move. 'Han said…' I paused as he started to move, '…Okane', I finished as he turned around and glared at me. 'Han said, Okane'.

He growled at me. Throwing me into the change room, I got half dressed, back into my skirt, and my under shirt with my school shirt slipped on over top before he threw me out the front door, not forgetting to throw my shoes or my jacket at me.

I grabbed my jacket and slammed it on the ground beside me, before I got up and bolted back up the stairs and into the building again. This time the fat man was in a robe and decided to throw me out harder so that I landed further away before throwing the money he owed at Han. Han smiled, as I huffed angrily looking at the floor then at him. He threw the keys at me.

'Let's go', he said, this time getting into the passenger side. I picked up my stuff, slipped my shoes back on, opened the driver's side door, threw my jacket into the back, and got in. I was to lazy and to annoyed, to do up my shirt, so I just put the keys into the ignition and drove.

We were both silent for ages, it was daylight as we left the bathing building but the more we drove, the darker it got. It was fully dark now before Han spoke.

'You're in the pickup and delivery business now', he said. 'I might call you once a week, or once an hour. I don't care if your sick as a dog or in bed with Beyonce. I call, you show'.

'Only if you teach me how to drift', I said calmly.

'This ain't a negotiation', he stated, not even looking at me.

'I wasn't negotiating', I smirked. Han looked at me and smiled before shaking his head and looking back at the road.

We pulled up outside of a bright pink building, and headed inside. It was full of gaming consoles, and millions of people fiddling with them. We continued through a long line of them before being led by a guy in a bright white suit into a back room. It was dully lit, but you were still able to see around it.

In the middle of the room was a table with bright lights above, and there sat DK and one of the guys I can remember from the race. The other two I have never met before. We walked further in and Han smiled, and DK smirked. He nodded at the two people I had never seen before and they left, along with a girl I hadn't noticed, at the back.

'What's he doing here?' DK said, looking rather annoyed, once everybody had cleared out.

'He's paying me back for the crumpled beer can sitting in my garage', Han said smoothly as I stood there on guard.

'I hope he's not driving', said the guy I had seen holding the wrench. '_Gaijin_!' he exclaimed, 'When is your next race? I'd really like to be there'.

I smirked and nodded. 'Why not be in it?'

'You really a bad ass cow girl, or just talk like one?' he asked me angrily, in Japanese.

'Your heard me', I added. DK scoffed, before sitting down again. I hadn't noticed that he had gotten up, but obviously he had.

'Ready to loose another car, Han?' he wondered.

'I'm ready to take that '86 Corolla off your hands', Han suggested.

'All right', DK laughed, 'Put up the '72 Skyline'.

'Done', Han said with ease, which had me shaking on the inside. I just remained quiet through out the negotiating.

'What do you think, Morimoto?' DK said turning to the guy beside him, the one I had dubbed, wrench boy. He just blew a kiss at me as DK laughed. 'Get her out of here. We have business to discuss'.

Han just nodded at me and shrugged and twisted the handle, swung the door open and left, closing the door behind me. Not knowing what I was meant to do, I just stood outside. I stood out there for a little bit, and decided to head over to the phone booth across the road. Grabbing out some Yen, I picked up the receiver, slipped in the money and dialled the number. Dad's number.

It went straight to message bank. 'Hey, Dad, it's me. I had to stay after school for some extracurricular activities', I noticed Neela walking up the path with her hands in the pockets of her jacket. 'So I'll be home a little later', I smirked as she noticed me and slowly walked over, 'Sir', I said finishing the message before hanging up.

'You really need to stop following me around'; I joked.

'What are you doing here?' she laughed.

'I thought I'd stop by and ask your boy friend for some drifting lessons'; I smiled.

'Trust me, you don't want to be apart of this world', she said with a faint smile.

'It's good enough for you', I pointed out.

'You don't know anything about me'; she smirked.

'Well, why don't you think I know?' I asked her, curious as to what her answer was, 'cause I'm a Gaijin, an outsider? Let me guess', I said as I watched the smile slip slowly off of her face. 'You're an army brat that moved around a lot. Your mama and daddy was never home, so you walked around pissed off all the time. And now you've found your family with these drift nuts', I finished.

'Zero for one, cowgirl', she sighed, before walking passed me. I watched her walk off before I noticed Han as she walked passed him. I headed over and around to the drivers side.

'Why can't you go find a nice Japanese guy like the rest of the white girls around here?' Han asked as we got into the car.

'Are you suggesting something is going on?' I asked, curious as to what everybody saw, whenever they saw me talking to her.

Speeding along the highway, I turned to Han.

'Everything okay back there?' I asked.

'I can handle DK', he said simply.

'I thought he's Yakuza?' I said repeating Twinkie's words.

'His uncles, Yakuza', Han laughed. 'He's just playing gangster in his little storage room', he sighed, 'But I need him. He keeps Uncle Kamata from poking around too much'.

'What do you mean?' I asked, curious now.

'Well, his uncle gets a piece of the action from everyone on his turf. We're on his turf. Fifty percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothing', he informed me.

'So have you raced DK?' I asked him, for a quick change of topic. He shook his head. 'Why not? Is he that good?'

'What's the point of a race?' he asked me.

'To see if I'm better than the other guy', I stated with a smile.

'Just proves your faster, that's all', Han sighed, 'If I were to race, it would have to be for something important, or why else do it at all?'

Those words made me think a little. 'Why are you letting me race?'

'Because your DK's kryptonite', he smirked. I smiled before he turned to me, 'And you owe me a car'.


	11. Chapter 11

I turned back to the road for a quick second before I heard the rev of an engine fly passed us, and I was right, as I blue car zipped through and ahead. I looked at Han and he just nodded as I smiled. I flipped up the cap and flicked the NOS switch, before holding onto the steering wheel and pressing the button. The speedo was already over one hundred and fifty in just under a second.

We flew passed the blue car and further. I was laughing at the rush. I hadn't felt like this since back in L.A, and it felt good. My senses weren't soaring for long as we flew passed a cop car.

'Oh shit', I swore, as I only just saw the gun they were holding. I looked in the rear view and noted that they hadn't started up sirens, lights or their engine. I turned to Han for an answer. 'What the…'

'Police Cars here are only factory-tuned', he started, 'you can do better than one eighty k, they can't catch you, so they don't even try'.

'You know what?' I laughed, speeding up slowly, 'I'm beginning to like this country already'.

Han gave me the instruction to follow the guy on the moped in front as we made our way down an alley way to end up in a small little car park. Han got out and cheered.

'Danny', he shouted, 'Your looking good', and he shook this guys hand. By now, I was comfortable in my school clothes and forgot that I was still wearing them.

'Disco', Han shouted, walking inside. He was greeting all these people, as I just followed and looked around. 'We got to catch up, get a drink on me huh?' he said to this guy before turning to me, 'Let's go'.

We had cleared the dance floor now and he had opened another door that led down a hallway. We walked around the corner to find two girls practically going each other.

'Easy now ladies', Han laughed as we walked round another corner, to come face to face with another door. Han opened it, and it was a bright room full of girls, dancing to a song that kept repeating: "Hey mami, you sexy".

There were very few guys around the room, but the ones that were there, were draped in many girls. And I started to get jittery as two girls wound their way up to me and draped themselves over both my arms.

'Keep your hands off the kid, girls, she's underage', Han said, much to my relief. And more to my relief, Twinkie walked over and pulled me away.

'Ladies, ladies, ladies', Twinkie laughed, 'Disney land for grownups huh?'

'All these girls, man, they look like…' I left my sentence hanging as I looked around. Now I wasn't lesbian or anything, but if the opportunity was to arise, I wasn't going to knock it back.

'What, Models?' Twinkie finished. 'Check it out. See, Tokyo is the fashion capital on this side of the planet, all right? Now, imagine you been posing all day. I mean, that's a lot of hard work, not only do you get tired, but, on top of that you wanna have a little fun, but you can't 'cause you don't even know anybody in town, and most of the guys around here are to chicken shit to try and pick up one. So what do you do?'

I shook my head.

'Man you talk to the little dude that makes you laugh', Twinkie smiled. I nodded in amazement. 'Yeah. Look man, I don't just think outside the box, I tear it up. That's my thing', and that made me laugh, 'Yo!'

Twinkie walked off to sell the snickers bars he had pulled out of god knows where, and as I just started to look around I heard my name.

'Jude!' Han shouted from another door that I hadn't seen when I walked in. I headed over and he draped his arm around my shoulder as we walked through the door into a garage. My jaw dropped as I looked around the place and Han just smiled. He draped himself around the girls who had walked through before us as I walked further in to look deeper. On the ground floor there was nearly seven or eight cars, and a rather good-looking bike with two large NOS tanks strapped to it. On the upper floor lounges and bed tubes.

'The red evo's yours', I heard Han say. I turned around to look at him. I swung back around to stare at the car that was pronounced mine.

'What do you mean?' I asked, feeling there was a catch to this.

'You're representing me now', Han said, walking away slowly with the girls. 'What you think, I'm going to let you roll in a Hyundai?'

I turned back from him and looked at me car, mouth agape. This was mine, and my dad was so going to kill me.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of silence. Dad had left again to god knows where, and I was left lazing around. I got up out of bed and opened the door to the rest of the basic house. I looked around and noticed quite a few things that I hadn't noticed the whole time I had been here.

All around the room there was photo frames filled with pictures of Brian and me. There was one sitting on the kitchen bench of Brian and I before he left for his assignment. We were smiling widely and I was leaning on the car he had given me for my birthday. I smiled softly and continued to look around the place. I found one picture that I thought I would never ever see.

The picture was a picture that was taken in L.A. A picture of the Torreto's and I, we were all standing in a line arms draped around each other. Mia had taken it; she had said it was the new "crew". I smiled sadly at this and brought it over to the couch so I could look at it.

Vince, Letty, Jesse, Me, Dom and Leon all stood there smiling, I was hugging Dom, while he hugged me, and Jesse was pretending to spank me while Vince did bunny ears on Letty, who was doing the same on Jesse. Leon was standing there, not daring to do anything to Dom, and you could see it too. That made me laugh.

'I wonder where dad got this from', I muttered out loud, as I sat it down on the table beside the couch, before sighing and leaning back. As my eyes began to close, I heard a phone ringing.

I growled before getting up and heading over to the main phone. Picking it up, I pressed the Call button.

'Hello?' I said half-heartedly. There was no answer, just a dial tone and I looked at it, smiling to myself, thinking what an idiot I was. But the ringing continued. I followed the sound and found it to be coming from my room.

I immediately thought it was the alarm clock, so I just walked in slowly and looked round for it, but no luck. I looked down at the floor and noticed my skirt was vibrating for some odd reason. Lifting it up, I saw a phone sitting there. As I stared at it, it stopped ringing.

'What the...' I wondered as I squatted beside it, basically treating it in like an illegal alien. It started ringing again ad I fell backwards. I grabbed it up off the floor and flipped the top up. There was a picture of Han.

'Hello?' I said, placing it to me ear.

'I said last night, I call you show, now if you don't pick up the phone, you can't show, now can you?' came the annoyed voice of Han.

'Yeah sorry about that', I mumbled, as I heard people talking in the background.

'You'll be sorry if you don't get your arse down to the garage', Han growled before hanging up. I gaped as I closed the phone. Where was that now? I couldn't remember how I had gotten there last night.

Ripping off my boxers, I chucked on a pair of jeans, threw off my tank and slipped on a bra before slipping the tank back on. Grabbing my socks, I slipped them on as quickly as was possible while jumping around, before slipping my high top converse shoes on. Not bothering to tie them up, I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder before rushing out the door.

I weaved my way through the many people walking all over the place as I bolted to the train station. I reckon I saw a few people from school, as I rushed through. I got on the train and it made it's way quickly to where I needed to go.

After a few train switches, I managed to get as close as transport would take me before I ran as fast as I could with loose shoes and a loose bag.

'Finally', Han smirked, 'Your pretty fast'.

'Training', I huffed as I noticed the car that Han had dubbed mine.

'Speaking of training…' Han started making his way down the stairs. 'Let's go'.

Swinging around the corner I smacked into a cage full of some stuff before swinging the rear end back round to get back on track. As I swung back round I smacked into another cage before actually getting straight.

I turned around another corner and nearly crashed into everybody watching, Han, Twinkie, Earl, Reiko and the rest. Going forward again I turned and swung around and ended up facing the wrong direction.

'Damn it', I swore as I shifted again in order to swing around, but I swung to far and hit another cage. I headed forward again before swinging around and smacking into a stack of pallets.

I awoke to the sound of nothing again, but as I headed out of my room in my school uniform I noticed Dad's stuff lying around. He was here somewhere. Not bothering to button up my shirt, I grabbed my bag and some food off the bench before I made my way outside. Across the way, dad was working on a car in a garage. Closing the door behind me I headed on over.

'Ohio Gazyimasu', A Japanese lady bowed and smiled as I walked passed. I just nodded.

'Is that yours?' I asked dad as he looked up and noticed me heading over.

'It sure is', he sighed, laying down the socket wrench.

'What happened?' I asked, laying my bag down.

'I don't know', he muttered, looking at it, 'I found it this way at the base'. I looked into the engine cavity, as my father fiddled.

'It's got potential', I stated.

'Yeah, maybe', he said a little iffy at saying that, 'we'll see'.

He stared at me as I frowned.

'You know, Jude, the Japanese have a saying', he sighed, before saying something in Japanese. I looked at him funny and he nodded, 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered'.

I ignored him and continued looking at the car. 'You're going to be late'.

Picking up my bag, I headed down the alley way and onto the main street. Things weren't working out as well as my father had hoped.

I made my way into the school and I had just started walking down the hall as the school bell rung, before I felt some grab my arm and call my name.

'Jude', before I could comprehend who was dragging me off to god knows where I found my self on the roof as a group of people surround a fight. I noticed who was the basher, but not who was the bash-ee until the people surrounding pushed him back into the middle. It was Twinkie.

'That's for selling me a broken iPod', shouted Morimoto, taking off his school jacket and pegging it at the ground as Twinkie lay there coughing.

'Come on, man, you broke it', Twinkie defended as Morimoto went around slapping peoples hands in triumph. I jogged into the centre of the circle and just as Morimoto went to turn around he knocked into me.

'Hey, whoa, whoa. There must be a misunderstanding', I stated as Morimoto just stood their flicking his suspenders and laughing.

'Out of my way', he said in a gravely voice before pushing me, 'Or you're next'.

'Take it easy', I exclaimed, going nose to nose with him, trying my hardest not to knock him out.

'Hey look, man, I don't do refunds, all right?' Twinkie shouted from behind my back.

'Okay, let's go, then let's go!' Morimoto shouted shoving me out of the way and going at Twinkie again.

'Touch me again…' I said threateningly pushing him away from Twinkie. He just laughed and made a monkey face. 'Here', I said whipping out my iPod Nano and handing it out to him, 'Try not to break this one'.

Morimoto just looked at me, before spitting into a closed fist and walking off. I thought that was a little strange, but I had just avoided one fight, I wasn't bout to rile him up for another.

'Say, Man!' Twinkie growled, slapping my back, 'what the hell is wrong with you, huh? Now everybody's going to want exchanges around here. Damn!' and he stormed off. Earl and Reiko just looked at me really disappointed like before following, and I stood there dumbfounded.

Hadn't I just saved him from losing his teeth? Hadn't I just stopped a suspension or worse expulsion? Hadn't I done anything right?

Placing my hands on the back of my head I swore before turning around. Not everybody had walked off. Neela was still standing there, so I slowly walked over.

'Not easy saving the day, is it?' she said with a small smile.

'Maybe you could give me some pointers sometime', I suggested.

'You're doing all right'; she smirked.

'Thanks'; I smiled, and at that Neela turned around and started to head towards the door that held the stair well. 'Hey!'

'Yeah?' Neela sighed, turning around.

'Sorry about the other night', I apologised, 'you're life isn't any of my business'.

'It's okay', she said, rather unsure of how to react. She smiled before turning around and heading down the stairs leaving me to allow my smile to get bigger.

'Hey Han', Earl shouted up from the football field as I looked out over the city it had gotten dark and we were all lazing around having a drink, well Han and I were anyway, 'Sort this wanker out'.

'A Wanker', I heard Twinkie exclaim.

'What do I look like…?' Han shouted in reply, 'A Zebra?'

Han came up to stand by me as I closed my eyes. I opened them just as a thought popped into my head.

'So, how did you end up over here, anyway?' I asked him, taking a sip of water.

'Well, you know those old westerns', he started, 'where the cowboys make a run for the border?' I just nodded. 'This is my Mexico'.

I couldn't stop myself, the word vomit appeared, 'Why'd you let me race with your car? You knew I was going to wreck it?'

'Why not?' was his reply, which thoroughly confused me.

'Cause it's a lot of money', I stated laughing; it was obvious why not, yet he asked.

'I have money', he said calmly, looking out over the city. 'It's trust and character I need around me. You know, whom you choose to be around let's you know who you are. One car in exchange for knowing what a mans made of, that's a price I can live with' he sighed. 'Look at all those people down there', he nodded at the millions of people crossing he road. 'They follow the rules, for what, they're letting fear lead them'.

'What happens if they don't?' I asked out of curiosity.

'Life's simple. You make the choices and you don't look back', He was starting to make some sense now. He was preaching to me what my mother, my father, Brian and even the Torreto's had been preaching to me my whole life, and it's only just made sense now.

'So, if you don't drift to win, what do you drift for?' I asked him.

'You really want to know?' he asked me seriously, looking at me.

'Yeah', I answered.

'Ok, let's go', he smiled before walking me down to his car and driving off.

We drifted around one corner after the next. I sat in the passenger seat smiling with my eyes closed. The feeling I got, in my head, all over my body, was a rush, even if I wasn't driving. I let the feeling just wash over me as Han drove along. We drifted wider around one corner so I opened my eyes and looked at him. he just turned to me and smiled, before looking back to the road.

I noticed a car sitting ahead at the traffic lights, and I had some idea of what he was going to do, but as he did it, he blew my mind. He went passed the right side of their car before slowly ripping the e-brake and doing donuts around the car. We went around a good six or seven times. Before stopped where we had started.

Han was staring down the girl in the drivers seat and she was staring straight back. I looked between the both of them before I noticed in the corner of my eye that the girl's friend was writing on a piece of paper. The chick that was driving held the paper out the winder and we took off, snatching it as we went.

I looked at Han with a new found respect, and he looked back at me before I cracked a huge smile and attempted to stop myself from laughing as he drove.

'There's no wax on, wax off with drifting'; Han stated the next day as we stood around at the half way down a mountain. There was a long, winding, thin road that made its way down. 'Learn by doing it. The first drifters invented drifting out here in the mountains by feeling it. so feel it', he said slapping my back before heading away from the car to where the others were sitting safely.

I made my way down the mountain from the top, drifting around the corners, and when I reached the part where everybody was sitting around I stopped.

'Again!' Han kept shouting if I didn't make it in enough time or didn't do it properly for him. 'Again!'.

Damn Twinkie and his persuasive manners. I found myself after school the next day walking the streets with him.

'What's in this bag?' I asked him as we walked further down a rather packed street, well there were more people than necessary.

'You'll see', Twinkie said slyly. Twinkie led me over to a rather large guy and he subtly held the same pair of red Jordan's he had tried to sell me on my first day. 'How much you got? Keep going, keep going'.

He took the money from the guy before jogging over to two ladies dressed as olden day ladies. He tried to sell them god knows what. I was to dumbfound to comprehend what he was saying as he pulled out all these clocks on chains and draped them around my neck.

Twinkie managed to sell a heap of the clocks before we started to head home. 'I'm so good, man, I could sell rubbers to a monk', he laughed as I just smiled and walked on.

In All my free time, I spent it on the mountain with Han and the rest, still practicing. I drifted around the corner they were all sitting on before pulling to a stop. 'Again!' Han shouted. It was like that every time. I would complete it in what I thought was a better form but he'd always say "Again" as if I hadn't even tried. Was this his tactic to teach me?

I stopped off at Han's everyday after school with Twinkie, working on my car, until midnight, sneaking back home, dad never noticed. One night I stayed late at the garage, I walked into the stock room, just poking around till I eventually cam across what I had been looking for. It's amazing the things that you can find in a Japanese Garage.

What I also came across was the open door to Han's back storage room, basically where he kept all the spare parts that could fit onto a box the size of my finger. He and DK sat inside, Han counting out the money before handing it to DK. DK looked up at me and smirked, not breaking eye contact till the door slammed shut. That officially stopped me from staying late whenever DK was there. Another happening like that and I could get my self-stalked by "Yakuza".

I walked the streets with Twinkie again. It was becoming apart of my routine. Wake up in the morning, go to school, walk with Twinkie, go to Han's garage, and then come home. But that day was different. I made my first sale. We were selling an older pair of Jordan's, but they had never been worn. I had one pair Twinkie had the other, and as a group of people stopped in front of us we started dealing. I was laughing and talking about anything that popped into my head, basically trying to get them to remember me.

I managed to get one of the guys to take interest in what I was saying and I subtly slipped in and started talking about the shoes, and I managed to get him to buy and I waved the cash in Twinkies face, very proud of my cash.

I was drifting again, for the umpteenth time. This time Han was in the car, giving me pointers as we went. He had obviously gotten sick and tired of seeing me doing it wrong so he decided to sit there and drill it into my head if I didn't get something right. Which was a good way of teaching but also very annoying.

'Watch it; watch it. Not to early, now', he stated calmly as I flung the steering wheel around and ripping on the hand brake before letting it go. They had created a different course with sharper turns and smaller spaces. 'Go, go, go, go!' Han shouted as I swung around corner and around the next, pulling the hand brake like an expert now.

'Don't lose it; don't lose it', he shouted as I went up round the mountain. I made my way back to the course and finished in record time. I screamed and cheered as Han just smirked and nodded in his way of saying: "Fucking well done, mate".

The chick on the top floor just turned around and started speaking in Japanese, I don't know whether she was actually letting anyone know I was there or whether she was just making fun of me, but I didn't have to wonder long as Han leant over the rail.

I stood there with all my possessions in a bag. I had packed up and left my dad's place, I needed to do what I was doing without having rules, I have a cycle to go through, and I can't just fuck that up every time because of his rules. I was hardly there anyway, there really was no point just staying at someone's place but not actually see them, that's just plain rude.

'Hey, Twink, get this girl a bunk', Han shouted over to, obviously, Twinkie. I nodded up at Han and hiked my bag up over my shoulder before making my way up the stairs to the top floor where Twinkie greeted me.

'It's good to have you here, man', Twinkie smiled as I just sighed, nodded and followed him.

'I need this', I smiled as he just reached up and scruffed my hair before stepping really quickly.

'You'll do good, kid', he laughed as I just smiled, reminding myself that what I was doing was the right thing.

I had been second-guessing myself ever since I saw that picture of everybody back in L.A. I hadn't thought of any consequences when I was with them, none at all. I just acted by instinct as Brian taught me. But ever since Dom found out who I was, what I was, it made me think.

I had moved in, and things had gotten better. I spent more time working on my car in the morning before school, sometimes forgetting about school and working through the day, but Han never pulled me up on it. It took less time to get to school so that there was more time to practise and work.

My drifting had gotten heaps better. I was now able to go round the corners without bashing into things and people. Even Twinkie had given me the thumbs up after a training session and it was definitely hard to please that guy.

Han challenged me to beat him down the mountain, that same day, and having gotten the thumbs up from Twinkie, I tried. He drifted around on the inside corner, gliding passed me as I just laughed and did the same in return causing him to laugh. He had called it a warm up for the race with Morimoto.

It was time for the race, and I had the cannibalistic butterflies again. They were really going at each other, I felt like I was going to puke. I was never near this nervous back home, why was now such a big deal.

'You'll get it', muttered Han as he walked passed me with packet of those things he always eats. How was he so cool, calm and collected? There's a fifty percent chance that he could lose his '72 skyline.

'Just breathe, relax and you'll do fine', whispered Twinkie as I got in the car, but as I looked around I realised he hadn't been whispering, he had been yelling but I was so nervous it was almost like opposite day as a kid.

'Ready', started the girl on Morimoto's side.

'Setto', screamed the girl on mine.

'Go!' shouted the guy in the middle. And as he moved his hands down I was already off. I cheered loudly as I pulled up ahead. Ripping the hand brake on, I swung around the corner before releasing it. I heard Morimoto following, but he faded away after awhile. I was on to much of a high. I was winning.

It stayed like that for ninety percent of the race, and when it came down to the final turn, he stood no chance. The last turn was the large spiralling path up to the roof of the car park, the one that DK had swerved up with ease.

Speeding towards it as fast as possible, I ripped the hand brake and glided up there, smoothly yet gracefully before pulling up to the stop and dragging in a circle in triumph.

The smoke surrounded my car and I felt like a celebrity getting out of a limo at a premiere. As I did get out, people surrounded me and Twinkie pulled me into a tight embrace.

'Yeah, baby. I told you. I told you didn't I?' he cheered as he let me go and laughed as I cracked a smile too.

Yawning I shook my head in order to stay awake. I was in class again and Japanese was never a language I could grasp, so I never paid attention and if I failed a quiz, they drew it all down to the fact that I didn't know the language. So instead, I pre-occupied my time playing games and sending messages.

I clicked on Neela's IP address; I slowly typed a message. I watched it pop onto her screen. It read: "How come I never see you drift?"

She read it slowly before typing a message back.

"You never ask!"

'Got a date?' asked Twinkie as I slipped my jeans on. I had gotten used to being the only girl actually living at Han's, so I wasn't all that worried that people walked passed me when I was getting dressed.

'Nah, just going to catch up with Neela', I smiled, chucking a shirt on.

'Play it safe, man, play it safe', Twinkie winked as I just smirked and winked back before tying my hair loosely into piggy tails and grabbing my jacket, shoes and car keys.

I headed down to the city centre before driving through and just on the outskirts of the major part of the city, there was this little restaurant. I was meeting Neela there.

Ordering my food, I found her and sat down. She smiled at me and wouldn't say a word till I ate part of what I had ordered, so I did. I ate it.

'It's actually not bad. I didn't even have to put ketchup on it', I laughed, taking another bite as I noticed Neela smiling. 'See, I'm not a total Gaijin'.

She stopped smiling as soon as I said it. I knew I had said something wrong but didn't know how to correct it. 'I hate that word', she started, looking me in the eye, 'It's what they used to call me when I was a kid'.

'I thought you were born here', I questioned.

'Well, "outsider" can mean many different things', she stated, watching me drink. I looked at her waiting for her to explain, and I noticed she had looked away, but was now looking me in the eyes. 'My mum died when I was ten. She came out here from Australia when she finished high school'.

'And all I know about her is that she went to work in a hostess bar. DK's grandmother took me in', she finished as I just stared at her seriously.

'Well, my parents split up when I was three. I moved around a lot, mostly because of problems with police', I started, 'Well, it was all because of the police. Kind of made myself an outsider, you know, without even thinking about it'.

'But I realised now, outsider or insider, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is knowing what you really want and going after it', I finished.

Before I could comprehend what was happening, Neela had me by the arm and was dragging me out to her car and he drove off before I could even put my seat belt on. She was taking me to the mountain. I knew the way there off by heart now.

She was showing me how she drifts. Around one corner after the other, she was smooth and not once did she falter in what she was doing. It was almost like magic.

'We used to come up here when we were kids', she said after awhile of silence, 'even before we could drive, we'd cut class, sneak out, come up here and watch the older kids drift'.

I stopped paying attention to how she was driving now. The way she started talking about how he used to come here all the time reminded me of one two many things that I had been thinking a lot about lately. And I don't know why it was now and not earlier, but I just couldn't stop.

'Things were different back then', Neela continued, 'Once I got my licence, I practically lived up here. Back then; kids just drove whatever they had. You know, we just made do. No one bothered us'.

'The day I got my licence is the day I got my first speeding ticket'; I smiled, remembering, 'the day after that, I won my first race. I beat this rich kid by three lengths. I got to admit, it felt good'.

'It felt like…' I started again.

'Like everything else just disappears', she finished.

'No past and no future', I continued looking at the side of her head as she drove.

'No problems', she sighed, 'just the moment'.

I was back at the track, practising. Corner by corner, I perfected everything. The slightest movement of my hand, the slightest twitch of my head, everything smoothly moulded into something to help my race.

Pulling up, I got out slammed my door and headed over to the stack of tyres.

'Hey Twink, I'm gunna grab another set', I shouted over as he nodded before getting up as quickly as possible.

'Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Another set?' he gaped as he stopped me from getting near the tyres. 'No. Look, that was your third set today. I mean, them tyres ain't cheap'.

I got distracted from Twink's lecture as I heard tyres come racing up and screech to a halt. Turning around in noticed the first person getting out of the car and my blood ran cold. Han stood up and took his glasses off.

'DK, grab a chair. We're about to roast some marshmallows'; Han tried to stall him, he knew what was bound to happen. He pushed passed DK.

'Yo, come on, man, look…' Twinkie tried, but DK had his sights set on what he wanted to do. And before I had time to say anything, his fist connected with the left side of my face. The force of the punch knocked me to the ground. Grabbing my shirt, he hoisted me up, over and over and over again just to keep smashing my face in.

By then I was seeing stars, and he grabbed me up again, but this time kneeing me as hard as he could. Adding to blood all over my face. I managed to look up, giving everybody a glorious view of my split lip in three places, and the cut on my forehead.

'Stay away from her', DK started, towering over me, 'or the only thing you'll be driving is a wheelchair'.

He got up and stormed off, and that was when I noticed that the reason why no body had stopped him was because they were all being stopped.

'Find a new driver', DK growled at Han as he stormed passed while Morimoto spat at Twinkie, who turned his head and dodged it. Reiko was the first one by my side as I spat out the blood filling my mouth.

'I'm all right', I muttered spitting out more blood as DK drove off.

'What'd you expect?' Han stated, 'you didn't just play with fire, you soaked the matches in gasoline'.

I walked into school the next day, a bruise going down the left side of my face. I watched people stare at me. Either they knew what happened, or were wondering. I didn't see that Neela had gotten a good look.


	12. Chapter 12

The Garage wasn't as packed with people as it normally was tonight, so everybody just relaxed and did their own thing. Reiko, Earl and I just worked on a car. They were telling me how Japanese cars are fixed differently than American cars because of the way different cars are driven. Most Japanese cars are built for racing, whether they were raced or not, while American cars were simply built for durability.

The conversation was going well, that was until I went to look outside, but instead saw Neela walking into the garage, and looked like she had been crying.

'Hey', I muttered, walking over to her. I heard Earl and Reiko stop what they were doing and watch and Han was bound to be watching as well. She had been crying and still was. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and led her inside. 'Come on'.

I sat her down in the chairs up the top and made us some tea. We sat there forever just listening to the silence that was inevitably there. She couldn't voice what she was thinking, and I didn't know how to start. Eventually we didn't need to say anything, cars came screeching to a halt outside of the garage. I recognised the car and was ready to go.

Neela and I made out way down the stairs and Twinkie just looked at me.

'Hey Brother', Han smiled, welcoming DK. But was faulted when DK stormed up to him and punched him just as hard maybe harder than he had me.

'I vouched for you', DK shouted, as Han kept his face against the car that was until DK pushed his back up against it. 'Put my reputation on the line for you! We were partners!'

Han didn't look all that worried and I think that scared me more than anything. He was a calm guy, but he had never been this calm.

'You think you can keep your side deals from me?' DK shouted, grabbing Han's shirt with force.

'Come on', Han sighed, pushing DK off of him. 'We're not in boy scouts. This is what we do'.

'Takashi', Neela shouted, walking further down the stairs. The face that DK's contorted into was unbelievable. He felt betrayed and dead inside, and it was all portrayed onto his face. Ripping a gun from his pocket, he pointed it at Han's forehead.

Everybody gasped and inched away, and even Han felt a little nervous. I started walking towards the two, but Morimoto stopped me and I just pushed his arm away.

'What about now, huh? Is this what we do?' DK shouted, nearly in tears.

'Man, you need me'; Han sounded tough, but his voice faltered. 'You'd still be shaking down teahouses for chump change if it wasn't for me'.

DK cocked the gun and I saw Twinkie move out of the corner of my eye. Neela was yelling in Japanese beside me and Han was just staring at the barrel of the gun. Next thing we all know, the garage door is coming down. Han smacks DK with a massive punch, as he was distracted. I whipped Morimoto around and smacked him one.

Han pushed one out his way as he ran passed me and up the stairs. I turned to Neela, 'Get in', and indicated to my car. We both got in and I started the car, and was about to take off when Morimoto ran in front and started kicking at it. That got to me and I just slammed my foot on the accelerator and bolted over him.

The garage door had been caught on DK's car, so there was a part chance of my car slipping under it, but we were about to find out. We just got out, sparks flew and paint was stripped, but we made it and I saw Han's car fly around the corner.

Following him we swerved around corners, with DK and Morimoto behind us. It was turning into one major chase as Han and I were doing swerves in between each other, just trying to confuse the shit out of the two behind us. Once we made it onto the freeway we knew shit was getting bad.

We were weaving in front of and behind cars faster than the eye could see and it was amazing that no one crashed. I had a close one but managed to avoid it. Swerving my way further and further up the freeway, it didn't feel like I was running, that was until I felt a car smash into the rear end.

It was Morimoto. He came up on my left side and started ramming me. It was giving me flashbacks of the reason why I was here. Over and over again he rammed us. Pushing back I managed to push him into on coming traffic, causing him to swerve around it. As we came up on the other side of the onslaught, Morimoto hadn't joined us.

We soon realised why as we saw parts of his car and another cars, flying through the air and then the many other cars crash into the two. It was terrible and I wished it hadn't have happened that way, but it was too late to think about that now. I focused my attention on the road and sped up to keep up with Han.

The roads cleared up the further we went, but there was still need for swerving. We were right on Han's tail now, and DK was right on mine. Swerving around a corner, DK came up beside us, and started ramming us like Morimoto had. Neela squealed.

DK swerved out and around on coming traffic and unlike Morimoto, he came back to join us. He rammed the left side again, causing me to swerve to the right a little bit, but I regained my composer and went back on course. Before I can comprehend a path, Han slows down and takes my place in front of DK as I sped ahead.

I watched in my rear view as DK pulled up beside Han, but Han stepped it up a notch and sped his way in front. We had reached the square. And I hadn't noticed.

'Jude!' Neela shouted, bringing to my attention the thousands of people walking across it. I slammed my hand down on the horn alerting the people to our presence and that we weren't planning on stopping. Everybody screamed and ran to the nearest side. Ripping on the hand brake, we drifted through the path the people had provided.

Everything went into slow motion. The fear in everybody's eyes, the crying children, hurt people who had been trampled in the attempt to create a path, all of it, wrenching at my heart as we glided passed.

I swerved around another corner, and then another, clearing the path for the fighting pair as we went. That was when I noticed that DK was now in front, and just like it had the day my ass was kicked by DK, my blood ran cold as DK swerved around to come face to face with Han, and fired at him.

It missed. My attention was brought back to myself driving a little to late as a car smashed into my rear end sending us both spinning into a spiral, knocking my spoiler off while I came to a short and fast halt against another car.

Han and DK came up to the intersection. DK still firing and Han still managing to avoid. DK swerved away from Han, and hand changed gears hoping to speed off. I got out of the car just to watch my mentor, my friend have a car smash right through the middle of his car. Han's car was sitting on top of the other car, just like a hood ornament. The car slammed on its breaks and Han's car came sliding off, rolling its way down the street till it came to an abrupt halt on it's roof.

Mouth agape, and not believing what I was seeing I stepped my way slowly over to the car. I thought he was dead, until I saw him moving. Slamming my door shut I bolted over there, not worrying about the fire that was starting or the fuel spilling everywhere. I almost made it too, but it went up, went up like a time bomb. The force of the blow knocked me off my feet.

I got up as quickly as possible, gaping at the wreckage, hoping to god that this wasn't happening that I was dreaming and that when I woke up in the morning, Han would be there shoving dirty socks in my face, trying to wake me up like he always did. I still didn't come back to earth when Neela grabbed me. She was telling me we had to go, but I was to dumbfounded to walk properly so she dragged me away, leaving all that was left of Han, to burn.

We hiked it on over to a station and jogged it down the stairs and got into the train as fast as possible. Neela clinging to me in case I nearly fell over.

We sat in the corner. I stared off into no where thinking about the shit that Han had done, that he told me off, and what he had done to me.

Pressing the button I stepped back and waited. We had come back to my fathers place. Not knowing where else to go. I stared at Neela as she stared at me. She was worried for me, like any good friend would be. I heard the revving of an engine come round the corner as I recognised the black car that held the guy I would rue the day till I killed.

I started storming over to him as he got out and Neela jogged a head in front off me.

'Takashi', she shouted.

'Get in', he shouted back as I ran at him and pushed him backwards. I got him onto the hood of the car and started beating in the left side of his head like he had done to me that day. I kept going, murder in my eyes, till he finally blocked a punch. Pushing me off him he got out his gun and aimed it at me.

'I wouldn't do that if I was you', I heard someone say as I looked over to find my dad pointing a gun at the back of DK's head. No body moved. I stared at DK's gun, while he contemplated killing me.

'Okay!' I heard Neela shout, causing everyone to look at her. 'I'll go with you'.

'Neela', I whispered, but she ignored me as she walked behind DK and in front of my dad's gun to get into DK's car angrily.

'See you when daddy's not around', DK threatened as he pulled his gun down and got back into his car. Stepping back a little I allowed them to drive off. Dad brought his gun down as well and stared at me.

'I'm putting you on a plane tonight', he said angrily. No: "are you all right?" or "Is everything ok?"

'Dad!' I started.

'Jude, don't argue with me', he ordered.

'Dad, I dealt with shit like this everyday. Everyday for fucking three years, and you weren't there for it. So, don't pretend you care now, let's just drop that bullshit. I did this. I can't run away', I stated angrily. 'I can't!'

'Jude, I'm your father, I'm responsible for your well being', he shouted back.

'I'm responsible for my mess', I stated calmly back. My father's façade was starting to falter as what I was saying was starting to kick into him. 'I got to do this. Can you understand that?'

Instead of storming in the house like he was about to before he walked slowly away from the door.

'At least you're not redoing my mistakes'; he smiled. I just nodded and turned around, not being able to find anything to say to my father was the hardest thing I had done, and walking away from him was harder. But seeing the tears fall down his face was one thing I never wanted to find out how hard it actually was.

I waited in an abandoned warehouse, looking at my feet, replaying every little event, every word, every movement, over and over in my head. From Neela showing up at the garage to seeing the look in Han's eyes focus on me when he managed to move his head.

Moving around I focused my sights on the door as Twinkies infamous Hulk car pulled in. I hadn't registered that Twinkie had gotten out till I heard the car door slam.

'You alright, man?' he asked me, stopping right in front of me. My throat was so dry; I just nodded. 'We're leaving town. Look, I know some people…'

'I can't do it, Twink', I sighed, shaking my head.

'Look, DK wants your head, All right? And the trouble you just made for Kamata? You're done here, bro', Twinkie sighed,

'Maybe I should talk to Kamata', I stated, forming a plan in my head.

'What?' Twinkie asked surprised.

'DK answers to him', I mumbled completely ignoring Twinkie's reactions.

'I know I just didn't hear that', Twinkie muttered aloud.

'I gotta end this. I'm gonna go talk to him', I said, standing up straight now looking at Twinkie, hoping to see a look that says: "Your plan is brilliant, man", instead…

'What, are you crazy, huh?' He shouted, 'Han is dead, all right! Plus you can't just walk into Kamata's place, man!'

'It's all I got', I sighed, shaking my head. I was going to do this, with or without Twinkie's help. I looked at him, hoping he'd help, but he rolled his eyes, shook his head and walked off. Following him, he stopped at the back of his car and opened the door.

'Something I think Han would've wanted you to have', he said, propping the door up, and popping out one of his speakers. He pulled out a small brown leather bag, and handed it to me.

'What's this?' I asked him, reaching my hand inside the bag. I pulled out a wad of money.

'You're going to need it if you're gonna make it out of Kamata's place alive', he said gravely.

'Don't you need it?' I asked indicating to him.

'Nah, it's cool', Twinkie said, looking away and waving it off, 'Look, I'll figure something out'. I felt bad taking it, but I had to get this sorted out, no matter what, I will pay the twink man back.

I managed to grab a jacket from Han's place before the cops rolled up and seized the place. Leaving, I found my way to the back street where I would come face to face with Kamata.

I stood in the entrance and all of a sudden, four men stopped what they were doing and watched me. One swung a chain while the other bounced a bat off of his hand. This caused everybody behind them to come to attention and subtly harass me as I passed.

I made it to the end of the alley and four important looking men stepped forward.

'I'd like to see Mr Kamata, please', I said in Japanese. The nerves had kicked in as everything changed from being surreal to very real. I bowed as the gentleman with the cigarette snatched the leather bag out of my hands and looked inside. He looked up at me again before the bald gentleman beside him led me inside.

As I stepped inside the curtain, everybody on the other side stopped talking, moving and it seemed even breathing as I came to a stand still. The Bald guy pushed in front of me and looked at another guy who stepped forward defensively. The guy that had led me in nodded and indicated for me to follow the other guy.

I was led into back of the place where I noticed two rather familiar faces.

'Jude', Neela exclaimed getting up and walking over. 'You need to leave'.

'You came to the wrong place', sneered the face of DK.

'I didn't come here to see you', I said in a rather calm manner that would have made Han proud.

'Takashi', came the voice of what sounded like a withered old man. 'Who's your friend?'

'Nobody', DK said nervously, 'I can handle this'.

'I have something which belongs to you, sir', I butted in on the Japanese argument. I walked forward with the bag only to have a guy step forward and forcibly lay his hand my shoulder to stop me. he took the bag off of me and walked it over to what I now knew as Kamata.

'You think…' He started in English after looking at the contents of the bag, 'you can walk in here, dump some cash and walk out?'

I know I'm only returning what belonged to you in the first place, sir', I said, smacking myself on the inside for saying something like that, but it had to be said in order to get something done. 'But that's not why I really came. I came here to apologise. I know your nephew and I have embarrassed ourselves badly'.

'Don't listen to this Gaijin', DK shouted in Japanese darting towards his uncle.

'Takashi…' his uncle started, looking rather disgusted, '…after everything you've done, you're giving me orders?'

'I apologise', DK said, bowing in respect.

'Sir, I am here to offer you a peaceful solution', I stated, nerves suddenly leaving me. I noticed out of the corner of my eye DK starting to get up from his bow, before I focused on Kamata.

'How do you plan to accomplish that?' he asked, looking rather assuming.

'A race', I said simply, looking him straight in the eye. DK was fulling standing now and looking murderous, but I still kept my cool while Kamata laughed at me, and my suggestion. 'DK and I have caused nothing but problems for you…' I paused, '…for us! I'm asking you to allow us to settle this, once and for all. We race. And the loser leaves town for good'.

'I've already beat this piece of shit once!' DK shouted, finally snapping.

'Good', Kamata finally chimed in. My attention and not to mention everybody's in he room was brought back to him, 'Then it should be easy!'

DK nodded, as I just made my way passed a sickly looking Neela and murderous looking occupants of the building.

I gathered the guys up, and we made our way back to Han's garage. All around the outside there was police tape stating the bloody obvious: "Keep Out". Slipping under I made my way into the garage dodging the ludicrous amount of tape only to come to a large disappointment. The guys all came in round me and came to the same stand still that I had.

**Zero cars**.

We spread out around the garage looking for anything that could help us out with the final race against DK. And we found nothing. Earl came running down the stairs.

'The cops took all the cars', he stated slamming shut his phone.

'Hey!' Reiko shouted, running into the garage. She led us through a few passages till we came to the outside of the garage. There sat the "crumbled beer can" that Han had let me race the first night I was here.

I hiked it on over to the front and checked the damage. We weren't able to re-salvage the body. Popping the hood I propped it up and looked at Reiko. Nodding I smiled for the first time since the accident. The engine was in perfect condition.

'Dad?' I muttered through the phone.

I was back at my dad's place, pushing up the doors of the garage across the road. Stepping back and took a look at the work we needed to do while my dad came and stood beside me. Looking at him he looked at me gravely before throwing the keys over, and for the first time since I was born, I walked over and hugged him.

I got the guys around and we pushed it most of the way to the garage which Reiko and Earl had removed the tape and cleaned up a little.

Piece by piece, the car started coming together. Once we got the windshield on we tested it out. Driving it to the mountain I weaved my way up it. The feeling still wasn't right, and it showed as I tried to do a U-turn and crashed it into the inside wall.

Fix after fix, test after test, it still wasn't right but we were getting there. Days and nights were spent on getting this car ready.

'We almost there, Twink, couple more tweaks', I said proudly, but tiredly.

'It's not the car I'm worried about, man', Twink muttered grinding his teeth together. I looked at him, trying to figure him out. 'DK picked this road for a reason. This is his mountain. He's the only one to ever make it to the bottom'. I looked away from him and swallowed calmly, looking out and down the mountain. Was it really going to be as hard as Twink is making it sound?

The night was finally here. No more cannibalistic butterfly's, it was now for the cannibalistic crickets. I was parked up at the top of the mountain, looking down over what was either going to be my doom, or my victory, and that scared me.

I watched the cars below gather at the bottom, organising phones for the video's organising, who was going to call the ambulance, who knows, all I knew was that tonight was going to make me, or break me, and I hope it is the first.

I got back in m car as soon as I saw people on each bend starting to surround one singular person. I sat comfortably for a little while before slipping the seat braces and buckling them up. I saw headlights behind me and immediately knew who it was. He pulled up beside me while another set of headlights stopped behind us. A man in a black suit got out and walked towards the cars.

I could feel DK's eyes on me, but I dared not to look at him because once I took my eyes off the road ahead of me I was going to doubt myself and that was the last bloody thing I needed right now.

Now standing in front, the man in the black suit waited for us to rev our engines in a salute to say we were ready. DK revved, then I followed suit, and the cannibalistic crickets, kicked in even more. Feeling like they were about to burst through the walls of my stomach, the man in front raised his hands to indicate the start of the race will be…he dropped his hands and BOOOOM!

I was the first to take off, although after a metre we reached neck and neck status. We were a small way away from the first turn when DK sped ahead and swerved around the tight bend. I followed suit, but a little less nervous when we started so I flew around with ease.

Levelling myself we sped down the second straight, closing in fast on the second bend. We went down around the second bend that led into the tight spiral down the side of the mountain. I wasn't used to such tight turns, and barely made it down, almost having the rear end fall over the edge, but I managed to pull it round with no damage.

We came to another straight leading of course to another bend, with DK still in front. So far I hadn't tried once to get passed him but I turned close to the edge and tried to speed passed him before the bend but he cut me off. As he was paying to much attention to my attempt he was a bit late in pulled the hand brake so he turned the corner a little wide smashing into a car parked on the bend, allowing me to swerve in close and come out on the straight first, DK struggling to stay behind.

Coming halfway down the straight, DK pulled up on the inside of me before ramming me repeatedly, moving me closer and ever so dangerously to the cliff like edge of the mountain. Every time I pushed against him, he pushed me back till I finally gave and pulled back a little allowing him to shoot in front.

An S bend was the next turn and although DK turned a little wide I didn't have enough time to pull passed him before we went through the next turn. A few more S bends wound their way down the mountain and each turn, DK turned wide allowing me to slide in on the inside, but never enough time to slip passed and turn.

We came to the last S bend for that little lot and on the last turn, DK went on the inside, allowing me to slip on the outside. He had focused a little to much on me and as I switched gears a little more a flicked the hand brake and swung passed him and in front.

Down each straight, and each bend I remained in front doing exactly what he had doing to me, cutting him off every chance and swerving around in the middle allowing him no room on the inside or out.

I swerved a little on another straight, gathering strength back in my arms for the next turn, and apparently that was just the little slip up DK needed. He came up on the inside and used his front end to ram my back end, nearly pushing me off the edge. We were neck to neck along the rest of the straight, DK still ramming me but I still managed to gather my composure every time. That was until we came to the bend.

DK rammed me again, this time instead of pushing me to the edge, he spun me around so that he had be T-boned, pushing me full speed along the track. We had one small straight before there was another bend, and if I didn't get out of predicament soon, it was bye, bye Jude. Pulling on my hand brake, it forced DK to push trough the rear end allowing me to swing back and face the track the right way, avoiding the lovely tip off the edge, but still pushing me into second.

Pulling up fast, I was straight back on track tail gating DK as much as possible before I found an opening and came up on the inside of him, ramming him, pushing him towards the cliff like edge. As we turned a small corner, DK ripped his break, allowing me to sped ahead, but him still on my tail. And he let me know it to as he rammed me from behind.

I swerved a little out of frustration and not concentrating, and that allowed DK to some how climb the side of the mountain and come neck to neck with me before I pulled back, allowing him to come back on the road. But the bumpy ride had ripped his spoiler off which came with a smash into my windscreen.

Swerving again, I gained my composure to again, tailgate DK. He swerved on the inside of the mountain in order to get ready for the swerve around the bend and I took my chances and sped up, switching gear and speeding passed him.

I swerved around the corner with a smile but not for long as I swung around to wide and that mistake allowed DK to swing in on the inside, again ramming the rear of the car with his front end. Over and over, and over again until I saw the end of the railing up ahead and ripped on my brakes, sending DK into a large swerve to avoid running off the road. Too late.

He flipped and went toppling off the road down and down, each flip tearing his car to shreds. I kept driving not daring to take the chance to stop as I came round the next bend and onto the straight, DK's car dropped on the road in front of me. I ripped on the brake and swerved around it. It was as if I was in slow motion, I took my eyes off the road and saw DK ripped and bloody in his car, and as I made it around his car it dropped onto it's roof.

I regained myself long enough to swerve to a stop at the finish line. I had won. Everybody ran over as I got out of the car, cheering and dancing, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that DK's mates had rushed over to fetch him out of his car.

'Yeah, baby', Earl shouted triumphantly while Twink was slapping me on the back.

'Told you', he shouted, 'Told you!'

Neela walked up and stood beside me, I smiled and she smiled and I gave her quick hug before I noticed Kamata and his cronies were making their way over to me. He stared at Neela who had her arm around me as we were cheering just before, before staring at me.

'You're free to go'; Kamata sighed in Japanese. He smiled and nodded before turning and walking away.

'I wonder if you know…' I sang stupidly to Neela who had announced that I was her new family. She started laughing as I started dancing.

'You can't make fun of the song', she laughed as I just continued dancing and making fun of the song.

We were back in the basement. I, being the new DK, had to be there.

'Hey, yo, Jude!' Twinkie shouted at me, as I was still making fun of the song to Neela. 'Yo, Jude! Hey, check this out, man. This dude over here wanna race the new DK'.

'Does he knew the new DK is a girl?' I asked Twinkie with a smile.

'I don't know, but I heard he's been beating everybody around Asia, too'; Twinkie sighed, still smiling. I just laughed and shook my head.

'Not tonight, Twinkie', I smiled, turning back to Neela.

'Said he knew Han', Twinkie stated sadly, knowing that would tip the iceberg. I swallowed grimly, and turned half way to Twinkie, contemplating racing. 'Said Han was family'.

I looked at Twinkie and noticed the guys had stopped dancing and laughing around me too. They knew what was going down. I looked away from Twinkie and sighed. Looking back at Neela she smiled, and I smiled too.

'All right', I said to Twinkie smiling, 'Let's race'.

I drove my car slowly around till I turned into the starting area and noticed a good ol' American muscle car, sitting there, engine running. I smiled to myself as I pulled up slowly to the drivers side. Coming side by side with the car, I looked at the driver and my blood ran cold and my heart was beating a million miles per hour.

The driver looked over to me and didn't even flinch.

'Nice ride', I said calmly, smirking.

'I won it from my friend Han, a few years ago', he said calmly, looking out over his hood before looking back at me.

'I didn't know he was into American muscle', I laughed.

'He was when he was rolling with me', he said still as calm as when I first pulled up.

'You know this ain't no ten second race, for some ten second car?' I smirked.

'I got nothing but time', He said, leaning towards the passenger door. I nodded. 'You ready, kid?'

'Yeah, come on, Jude!' I heard Twinkie shout through my window as Neela walked up and stood between the cars.

She pointed to the girl on my side, who said ready, and before she pointed to the one on the other side, I sighed and looked at the guy in the other side.

'It's good to see you', and before he could answer, Neela threw her hands down and we were off.


	13. Chapter 13

'Never thought I'd see you again', he snapped, getting out of his car as we reached the top.

'Never thought I'd have to talk to you again', I smiled awkwardly, getting out of my own car.

'You'll pay...' Dom growled.

'Uh, uh, this is my world now', I sneered as Neela came running up to me, hugging me and screaming her congratulations. Everybody followed suit, touching me in some way or another, trying to get a piece of me after my first race as DK.

'Nice race man', Twinkie laughed, walking up to Dom, holding out his hand. Before I knew what was happening, Dom had leant down slightly to talk to Twinkie over the noise of the crowd. I couldn't hear a word of what they were saying, but I knew it wasn't good thing for someone I had betrayed to be talking to someone who didn't know my past. Neela tapped me on the shoulder, looking at me concerned.

'What's up?' she whispered in my ear.

'Past has finally come back to haunt me', I sighed, shrugging before making my way out of the group surrounding me and over to Twinkie and Dom.

'Twink, man', I cheered, as Twinkie's smile widened.

'What's up, man, nice race', Twinkie cheered, a little over-enthusiastic as he slapped me on the shoulder and pulled me towards him. 'My girl right here, is the DK', Twinkie bragged.

'I figured', Dom smirked, crossing his arms.

'What's up?' I smiled, holding out my hand, waiting for him to shake it.

'Don't do that', Dom laughed.

'Look, that was L.A, just leave it in L.A', I snapped.

'Oh, It's still there', Dom smiled.

'Then what's the hostility?' I grumbled, as my hopes began to rise again.

'A message relayed by Mia', Dom shook his head, smile disappearing.

'Vince?' I asked, looking from my feet up at him.

'Broke his arm...' Dom started before Twinkie interrupted.

'Hold up, hold up, you're telling me you know him?' Twink asked, rather confused.

'There's a few things you don't know about me Twink, and they'll stay that way', I added, looking at Dom with a stare telling him not to say anything about my previous occupation. He just stared back, looking straight into my eyes, something I had never, ever seen him do before.

'I'm going to leave you two alone', Twinkie sighed, side stepping away from us as we both stood awkwardly now, having been officially caught staring.

'Did you miss me?' I smiled sadly after awhile of silence. I had had enough of staring at him, I now wanted answers for the questions in my head.

'Do you really want an answer to that?' Dom grumbled, now glaring at me.

'Yes, whether the answer be good or bad, I still want one', I snapped, looking up at him again as I took a step back and crossed my arms. I didn't know what the step back would have done to help me, but I felt it was necessary.

He just shook his head before getting into his car. Ever so slowly, he looked from his steering wheel, out the window at me, before putting his car into gear and taking off, leaving me there, gaping as he left.

'What happened?' Twinkie shouted, jogging over.

'I've got to go', I sighed, heading back over to my own car.

'All right, well we'll see you tomorrow, yeah?' Twinkie sighed.

'No...Twink', I muttered, looking from the car keys in my hand to the guy I had come to treat as family. 'I've got to go'.

'Oh', he started, 'Where?'

'I've got to go back to L.A', I stated, determined to not break down in front of everybody.

'But you're the new DK, you can't do this to me, you can't do this to Han', Twinkie exclaimed, as I swung around to face him.

'Han once told me, "whom you choose to be around let's you know who you are"', I paused as I remembered that conversation with Han. It seemed like years ago. 'Well, Twinkie, you've showed me who I am, you've showed me who I can be, now I need to see if I can be anything else'.

'But...' He started, giving me a look that said more than words ever could.

'You'll always be apart of my life Twink, you'll always be there', I smiled, tears brimming my eyes as I finally opened the door of my car and slipping inside.

'What do I tell Neela?' he asked me as I smiled softly.

'Tell her...' I paused again, in thought, 'Tell her that no matter what, even outsiders get their dream too'.

Twink just smiled softly as I put the key in the ignition and sighed contentedly before starting the car and speeding off.

I had been back for over a year now. I had contacted Twinkie two months into my stay telling him I had relocated back here, but to keep everything the way it was. He had asked me several times when I'd be back and the only answer I was able to mumble in reply was…I don't know.

I had settled back into my life in L.A. Dom had even taken the opportunity to forget some things that had happened. He hadn't forgiven me entirely, but he had reached the stage where it didn't bother him so much anymore. Mia was still avoiding Brian and I still wasn't Letty's favourite person.

I scratched my unclothed arm sluggishly as I looked at the six Honda civics' lined up on my magazine. I was driving carefully towards the shop. The Torreto's apparently bought it back after Rome and I had left it abandoned. It looked exactly the same as it had.

I pulled into the only available space left outside of the shop. Jesse and Vince were looking over his car. Vince's arm had a hideous scar making its way down his arm from the truck incident, and my mind flashed back to that day, causing me to cringe in remembrance.

I sighed as I switched off my engine and stepped out. 'I'm still unloading in fifth', Vince was complaining. It was then that I noticed Leon standing beside him. This was exactly like the day I had first been here. The fight had happened not long after and my stomach shifted uncomfortably.

'Told you it was fifth', Leon exclaimed.

'Do you guys ever stop whinging?' I laughed nervously, launching myself onto one of the stools outside the café and swinging around. My stomach was doing summersaults all over and I was beginning to feel slightly ill.

'When you stop knowing more than me about car's, we'll stop whinging', Jesse laughed, knowing full that the only way I could stop knowing more than him, was to stop working on cars all together, and that was something I could never do.

'Mia, can I have a soda?' I shouted out to the rather occupied girl in the corner.

'Get it yourself', she said softly, waving at me with one hand still on the book. Mia was still wrapped in her studies, probably more now than ever.

'Okay', I mumbled, getting off of my chair and heading into the back of the shop where Dom was currently doing something I would rather not care about it. 'Coke?'

'Hm', he mumbled, as I placed the cold can on top of his head. He looked at me and glared.

'Sorry', I laughed, leaning over and kissing him gently on top of his head. I had resulted to annoying the shit out of him, hoping he'd see the funny side of it rather than the fact that he didn't like me all that much.

'I can see right down your shirt when you do that', he smiled. He was seeing the funny side of it. I smiled back.

'Think of it as my apology then', I laughed, rubbing his head before snatching my own coke off of his desk and heading back out to my stool.

'You shouldn't do that to him, you know', Mia mumbled, as she picked up her book and placed it in front of me so that she could study and talk discretely with me. I looked from the back of Dom's head to her rather concerned face. She had become serious.

'Do what?' I asked, rather confused.

'Kiss his head, let him look…' she indicated at my chest, 'he's with Letty'. I nodded. It was all I could do. I wasn't trying to hook in, nor was I trying to break up an age old relationship that Dom and Letty had reformed, I was simply trying to make my sudden – well, not so sudden, I had been back for over a year – appearance a little more bearable.

'Mia, sweetie, it may seem like I have been gone a long time, but I do know more than you on this subject, and I know how his mind works', I smiled sincerely, hoping she wouldn't take it to heart, 'He loves Letty, nothing, and I mean nothing, can come between that'.

'You better be right', Mia sighed.

'And plus', I added, 'I couldn't do it with you're brother, it'd be way too weird. The urge to high five him half way through would be to over powering'.

'What do you mean?' she laughed and I smiled.

'I've always been one of the guys, and I'd be going: "Yeah, I'm totally doing it with you, dude, high five"', I said stupidly, doing the actions, causing Mia to screech in laughter. 'Don't even get me started on the whole jock chest bump thing'.

'Oh my, God, you were serious', she laughed, picking up her book and heading back to where she had been before. My obvious amusement to her was distracting her from more of her unnecessary studying.

'Of course', I laughed, taking a swig of my coke, 'hey college girl, can I have a ham sandwich?'

'Get it yourself!' Mia snapped, glaring at me before looking back at her book. That was rather uncalled for and I smirked.

'I'm a customer, I need to be served', I yelled loudly, causing the guys to look up from their car and Dom to turn around and look at me funny.

'Fine, but if I get you this sandwich will you shut up?'

'Yes', I smiled smugly as Mia got up and started making me a sandwich. 'Thank you', I yelled.

'Jude', Dom called, and I looked up from my current entertainment of watching Mia work, to the bald headed gentleman in the back.

'What?' I snapped. He didn't answer. I exhaled sharply as I got off of my stool sluggishly and made my way into the back. I leant up against the fridge and looked at him. 'What?'

'Shut up', he smiled, and I just opened my mouth and gaped at him.

'You called me all the way up here to tell me that?' I snapped, kicking his arse through the gap between the arm of the chair and the seat. 'Arse hole!'

'Kick me again, I swear…' he started but I kicked him again and turned to run, but even in all the small amount of time I had known him, I never ever got away. He grabbed my arm and dragged me towards him.

'All right, I promise I won't do it again', I screeched, pulling away. Yet again, he pulled me harder and I landed smack dab in his lap. 'You're still an arse hole'.

I smiled softly as I looked up into his eyes. He was smiling back at me, when the last thing on earth I thought would ever happen, especially from him, happened. He kissed me.

'Mia!' I screamed, trying to gain the pacing girl's attention. Not only wasn't I allowed to feel utterly ashamed and embarrassed in peace, I was forced to stand the glare and utter hatred resonating off of Mia.

'How? Jude, how?' she shouted back, as I sat guiltily on the bench while she paced. We had made it back home before she started to yell at me, actually she had waited till we got home, and Dom went looking for Letty, to yell at me.

'He kissed me all right', I snapped, glaring at her now. She wasn't even attempting to hear my side of it. The last thing I wanted was to make the situation with Dom that more difficult why couldn't she see that and believe that I didn't want to do it.

'Dom wouldn't do that', Mia snapped.

'Mia, you don't know you're brother as well as…' I started.

'As well as you?' she growled. 'That's because instead of opening up to his sister like most brothers do, he opened up to you'.

'I wasn't going to say that', I mumbled.

'What were you going to say, Jude?' Mia shouted.

'You're brothers not the same as he was two years ago, Mia, he's changed', I tried again.

'He's changed since you came back', she shouted, continuing her pacing.

'And you think it's my fault?' I screamed, 'ever since I got here, I've been doing research on Brian for you, because you're to chicken shit to talk to him, I have never, ever in my whole life heard more about my brother than I have since I got back here'.

Mia paused her pacing and turned to me, ready to say something. 'No, Mia, don't turn it on me, I did not once offer to stalk him for you', I snapped, 'Now I have him helping me on a car that I've had perfect ever since I was able to drive. I have given up so much for you, and you still treat me like I'm the bad guy'.

'Jude…' Mia sighed, rubbing her head.

'Yes, I kissed you're brother, but that's only because it's hard not to when he's kissing me. No, I don't have any problem talking to Brian for you, he's family, it's easy, but it's starting to get beyond a joke, when I meet up with him, you're coming with me, got that?'

'Jude…'

'What?' I snapped. I looked at her and noticed her eyes flicking between me and the kitchen door beside me.

'Hey, Mia', came the rather raspy voice of Letty.

'Hey, Lets', Mia answered awkwardly.

'I heard shouting and thought…' but instead of finishing, she looked at me, put up her hands and walked away. I had never seen Letty look so…hurt?

'Great', I snapped, glaring from the doorway, to Mia, then back to the doorway.


	14. Chapter 14

I sighed. Everything was bound to catch up with me sooner or later. I was sitting on the curb in a car park of a roadside seafood restaurant. Brian had called not long after the kitchen incident and I suggested meeting today, and he suggested meeting here.

'Fuck!' I whispered angrily to myself as I scratched my fingers down my face. Mia was inside and I couldn't stand being alone with her. The car ride was bad enough.

'Something happen?' a voice above me said. I looked through my hands and found a pair of chucks standing in front of me.

'How you doin, Brian?' I smiled, standing up. I wrapped my arms around my brothers neck and sighed.

'Good, yourself?' he smiled, in return wrapping his arms around me.

'Actually a little nervous', I muttered, looking away before looking at him with a big smile, 'Let's go through, shall we?'

He looked funny at me before leading the way into the restaurant. Mia was seated at a table at the far end. We were going to sit outside, but we needed her out of the way, so that Brian didn't run. 'Is that what you were nervous about?' he whispered at me. He had seen her.

'Uh, yeah, but do me a favour; ignore her, pretend like you didn't see her', I smiled at the guy behind the counter and ordered fish and chips.

'Sure', he said awkwardly, as I paid for the food and took our number and headed outside. 'The point of it being?'

'She's going to surprise you', I muttered.

'Why?' he asked.

'Because, she was the one that sent me to you in the first place', I sighed, 'I don't actually need help with my car'.

'I thought it was a little bit iffy, you not once asked me for help with that car', he smiled. I knew I couldn't fool him, not for one second.

'Believe it or not, that doesn't surprise me, remember Jesse?' I smiled.

'Yeah, is he all right?' he said, looking awfully depressed all of a sudden.

'Still feels it when it's cold and when he coughs, but other than that, he's as good as gold', I smiled.

'Brian?' came a soft voice behind me. The way we had planned it, was that Mia wasn't here to meet me or him, she was here studying and just happened to run into us.

'Mia', Brian cheered, 'It's been ages'.

'Yeah', she said softly.

'I'll catch up with you later Bri, looks like you guys need to catch up', I smiled, I patted my brother on the shoulder and kissed the top of his head before walking out.

I took another drag on my cigarette and sighed. I hadn't smoked since I first met the torreto's. I had avoided it, much like the rest of the things I used to do, but I had been going well on this on. There was something that happened, I wasn't sure what, but something triggered my feelings back into smoking mode.

'Hey Jude', came a rather hushed voice from the front door to my right. I sighed softly before looking in that general direction. I had recognised the voice but had given myself the benefit of the doubt and looked, just in case.

'Letty…' I paused, trying to think of any excuse possible to get up and bolt.

'It's kind of cold out here, I brought you a jacket', she mumbled, sitting on the step beside me and passing me one of Dom's old jackets.

'Letty…' I tried again.

'It doesn't fit me anymore, I thought you might want it, that's all', she sighed, blowing into her hands before stuffing them into the pockets of her own jacket. I took one last look at her before slipping the jacket on cautiously and slamming my hands into the pockets.

'Letty…?'

'Seriously Jude, I've spent the last two hours talking about it with Dom, I really don't want to go through it again', she snapped quickly before sighing again. 'Sorry'.

'I just want to let you know I'm not interested in Dom like that, too much shit has happened between us for anything to happen and to be honest, I don't really want that to change', I mumbled.

'Jude?' a shout from inside the house made me jump softly.

'What's up, Mia?' I shouted back.

'Phone!' I turned from the front door to Letty.

'We cool?' I held out my hand.

'We cool', Letty smiled, shaking my hand. With my spare hand I flung my abandoned cigarette onto the step below me and stubbed it out with toe as I got up. I smiled at her quickly before disappearing inside.

'Who is it?' I yawned, reaching for the phone as I headed inside.

'Not sure', she muttered. She was looking dark all of a sudden and I knew it wasn't good.

'Hello?' I sighed into the phone, only to have shock appear suddenly on my face at the voice that came through the receiver. 'Twinkie…?'

I wasn't at all worried as I walked out of the plane and through the terminal. I was home and I could feel it. It wasn't as tense as it was back in L.A and I knew immediately that I would be celebrating as soon as I met up with…

'Twink!' I screamed pushing my way through the people in the airport to the short man sticking out like a sore thumb. He was the only person around carrying his steering wheel.

'D fucking K', he shouted, causing glares from the other occupants of the space, but neither of us cared. I wrapped my arms around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist. I had missed him.

'I missed you', I muttered stupidly. As if he couldn't have gathered it from the monster hug.

'No shit', he laughed as I dropped to my feet and smiled sheepishly.

'Where's Neela?' I questioned looking around, hoping to see her.

'We had a slight…malfunction if you will', Twink muttered, looking any where but into my eyes.

'Twink…' I started, 'what happened?'

'Neela's in the hospital, Jude', he sighed, finally looking at me.

'Let's go', I snapped, adjusting my bag and heading for the exit. All hope of a celebration lost as all sorts of scenarios raced through my head.

'You're bags?' he asked, grabbing my arm before I could run off.

'Oh, yeah, right', I muttered stupidly, leading the way to the baggage terminal.

'You don't look to crash hot', I mumbled, walking into her hospital room. Kamata had obviously insisted that she be in a private room. He still looked in on her from time to time.

'Jude!' she practically screamed, attempting to scramble out of the bed. I had never seen her so excited in the whole time I had known her.

'Okay, it took me ages to get the nurses to let me up in here, don't ruin that', I smirked, walking to her bed and giving her the hug she was so desperate for.

'Well hello to you too, Jude', she smiled softly. I sighed as I sat in the small chair beside her bed, awkwardly.

'What happened?' I questioned, taking her hand and looking her in the eye.

'You were gone for over a year', she muttered, looking at me sternly.

'And you're avoiding the subject, don't do that', I snapped.

'You were gone for over a year, Jude', Twinkie stated, looking me in the eye intently. 'DK doesn't disappear for over a year without someone wanting to race them during that time'.

'Neela…' I gaped, looking at her.

'They knew the new DK was a girl…' she tried.

'Neela', I growled. 'What happened?'

'A guy from America showed up', Twinkie started and I closed my eyes, completely and utterly frustrated.

'And?'

'We raced. He lost', Neela said simply.

'He came to race the DK and lost against someone who can't beat me, well, he can't have been very good', I snapped, opening my eyes suddenly.

'Uh…' Twink mumbled from the corner.

'Please tell me you didn't have anything to do with it', I growled, turning to look at Twink.

'I may have', he said simply, shrugging.

'Continue', I mumbled, now giving up completely as I turned back to Neela. I rest my head on the side of her bed, letting go of her hand.

'Someone', she said, emphasizing it, 'tampered with his car. He didn't find out until we started racing. He didn't make it up the ramp. His brakes gave way and everything just went…'

'Wait, hold up, everything went, as in, no control whatsoever?' I questioned, looking between Twink and Neela.

'No control whatsoever, his car went smack into the wall before banging it's way back down the ramp, and bang into the pillar at the bottom, man', Twink stated.

'So how did you get caught up in all this?' I asked, looking from Twink to Neela.

'He thought that's how I, well you, won races, by disabling people's cars', she mumbled, looking around the room, avoiding my gaze. 'As I was heading home…'

'Oh no', I snapped, glaring at them both, 'who tampered with the car?'

'I, uh…' Twink muttered.

'Twink, who tampered with the car?' I growled, standing up now.

'You're American friend', he stated softly, looking anywhere but at me.

'When did this race happen?' I questioned.

'Just after you left', Neela muttered and I just shook my head.

'Can't have been him, he was in L.A', I whispered. Although, I didn't know the exact day Dom had flown back in. He could have flown back in two days before I rekindled the friendship with him. That's when it hit me. 'Shit!'

'What?' Twink said in surprise.

'If you had of told me this, he could be here', I snapped, glaring at a stitch coming lose in the bed spread. Why did that matter now?

'Who?' he asked me, a little confused.

'Dominic', I muttered, looking away from the stitch.

'We'll be back, Neela', Twink snapped.

'Twink, time difference, and plus, he wouldn't get a plane out anyway', I muttered, looking up at Neela. 'So what happened to have you in the hospital?'

'Two weeks ago, the guy I had raced, plus some other guys showed up', she stammered, as if it hurt to remember, 'and the next thing I know, I ended up in here'.

'Have you seen Kamata, lately?' I questioned seriously staring at her, my cop instincts starting to shine through.

'No, after Takashi left', she faded off and I knew it was a sore subject. Even though he was a complete and utter ass hole to her, he had been all she had known for awhile. He had practically been family.

'Good, try and keep him out of it, yeah?' I mumbled before standing up as she nodded. 'Twink, take me back to the garage, I've got to make some phone calls'.

'Okay', he said slightly culpable as I made my way over to him. I had just told him that there was no point calling but I knew I wouldn't sleep until I did.

'We'll see you soon, Neela', I smiled softly before I attempted to exit her room. Twinkie stopped me and looked more guilty than he had before.

'Jude…' Neela muttered. I stopped trying to get passed and stood stock still. What had happened? Who went missing? What went missing?

'Jude…' Twinkie whispered.

'No!'


	15. Chapter 15

I sighed as I sat on the couch's at the top of the garage while Twink snored away in his tube. The door was closed but I could still hear him. I was surprised they were still here.

Someone had ransacked the garage after the incident with Neela. My car was gone and so was Neela's. Twinkie had stored his in the same place he always did so his was untouched.

According to what Twinkie had told me, they had only stolen the cars and a few more personal items from upstairs. Twinkie had called the cops and they of course took notes of what was missing and what not, but they had been here nearly six months ago.

'If only…' I muttered, thinking back to Dominic in L.A, anything to get my mind off of my car. He had told me he was willing to sort things out. He had been polite and nice, much unlike the way he had been when I last seen him. I should have noticed. I should have known that something had happened.

I stopped sighing and stopped thinking as I grabbed out my mobile and searched through the phone book before pressing the green phone.

It rang for a bit before the person I had wanted answered. 'Hello?' he mumbled.

'Brian', I smiled, 'it's Jude'.

'Do you have any idea what time it is?' he snapped, but I knew he wasn't angry. He was glad to have me call.

'No, and I don't care, I need you're help on something'.

'What now?' he groaned, obviously getting up.

'Where's Mia?'

'Mia, why did you call me?' he questioned.

'Just wake her up, I know she's there', I snapped. I heard some rustling before a female groaned.

'What?' she had snapped in the background.

'Phone', Brian mumbled.

'Hello?' she muttered into the phone.

'Mia', I cheered loudly, knowing it'd hurt her ears. She wasn't a morning person.

'Jude, what…' she faltered.

'What's Dom's number?' I asked her. I heard her choke slightly as she yawned.

'Why, Jude? What's going on?'

'I need his help, he's wrapped up in a few things here, and if I don't get a hold of him now, I'll kill him later', I snapped.

'323-555-6439', she yawned.

'323-555-6439', I repeated.

'Yep', she muttered.

'Thanks heaps, Mia, I'll call you later, put Brian back on the phone', and she did.

'What?' he muttered.

'Think you can get my old friend on the phone for me? I need him here to sort something's out', I muttered.

'I can try, Jude, why? What's happened?' he questioned.

'I'll tell you when I know the full of it, I'll call you later, yeah?'

'Yeah, Jude, make sure you do', he snapped, now sounding fully awake.

'I promise' and I hung up before he could delay me. I needed Dominic on the next flight here.

'323-555-6439', I mumbled as I dialled it into my phone. It rang. Each ring, my heart skipped a beat.

'Hello?' he shouted into the phone and I jumped, immediately thinking my heart had stopped. 'Hello?'

'Dominic', I stated.

'Who is this?' he shouted out.

'You need to get your ass to Tokyo, my friend, because I swear to god, if you had anything to do with her being in hospital', I spat out, all of a sudden getting angry. It had come out of no where.

'Jude', he shouted.

'If you are not in Tokyo within the week, your ass is in Jail', I shouted before slamming the phone shut. I didn't need to slam it, but it made me feel good. Why had I threatened him with jail? Hadn't he made the decision of friendship based on the fact that I wasn't a cop anymore? Would he still come?

'Your ass is in jail?' Twinkie yawned from his tube. 'What was that about?'

'Go back to sleep, Twink', I yawned.

'You can't put anyone in jail, Jude, go to sleep yourself', he laughed, getting out of his tube. It almost seemed like an invitation to tell him, to tell him everything and anything.

'Twink?' I sighed, staring at the table in front of me.

'Hm?' he mumbled.

'What would you do if I told you I had been a cop?' I questioned, not really paying attention to anything but the stains on the table.

'I…' he was stumped. 'Your not, are you?'

'No, I'm not', I sighed, wondering if I was going to go through with this. 'I was though'.

'What?' he exclaimed, staring at me from his position by the tubes.

'Why do you think I appeared out of nowhere in the middle of term, Twink? I already told you I wasn't an army brat', I groaned.

'But you're not a cop now, right?' he muttered, making his way to the spare space on the couch beside me.

'No, not now, but…' I sighed. 'I might have to suddenly be again'.

'What do you mean, why did you stop?'

It was early the next morning when I had finished talking to Twink. It was amazing how many questions one person can ask. There was a couple of times when I thought he was going to kill me and also a few times where I thought he was going to start balling, but either way, we came to a stand still and talked through it.

'Coffee?' he yawned from downstairs.

'Where you headed?' I mumbled, leaning over the railing.

'Not sure just yet, I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic', he sighed, opening his car door.

'Coffee would be nice', I smiled softly. He nodded and smiled quickly before getting into his car and reversing. 'Shit'.

Snatching up my car keys I jogged downstairs and reversed before speeding off.

About an hour later found me in the cemetery. A little bit eery, but I had to visit Han.

'Hey', I yawned awkwardly, placing the flowers against his headstone and sitting beside it. I wasn't a fan of cemetery's but desperate times caused for desperate measures.

'Neela's in hospital. A huge mishap with Dominic and some guy wanting to race the new DK. I guess you didn't know about that either', I sighed, starting to feel slightly stupid for coming here.

I needed to do something and this had been my last resort. Going back to L.A had completely fucked with my head all over again and I wasn't feeling any better. Opening up to Twinky may have helped me in the long run, but at the moment it was making me feel like shit.

'Back when I was a cop, I felt I could do anything, you know, like I didn't need to worry about watching my back, someone always did that for me', I looked at my fingers. 'ever since I moved to Japan, nothings been the same. Nothing. I…' I paused, trying to think of what to say next. 'I need to know what I'm meant to do next. I need help'.

I have never, ever admitted that to anyone or anything, ever in my life and to finally admit that out loud shook me to my core.

I lay stomach down in a tube, my head poking out the end as I waited. I wasn't entirely sure what I was waiting for, a message, a phone call or even an appearance of somebody, I wasn't sure. My gut had done the whole flip thing and it only ever did that when something was going to happen.

My phone began to ring. I jumped, smacking my head on the outer lip of the tube. Throwing around a few choice curse words, I reached back and whipped out my phone before answering it. I was met with a whole group of swearing.

'Bilkin's', I smiled, 'it's great to hear from you'.

This was my sign.

I blinked, my eyes starting to burn from the slamming wind, dancing its way around and through everything. I was leaning against my car outside of the airport. I had somehow convinced Bilkin's to make the next flight to Japan, with a little of Brian's help.

'This better be good, Jude, or I swear I will have you thrown away so fast…' he didn't get a chance to finish as I stepped forward and smiled.

'Get in the car, Bilkins, we've got a lot to discuss', I smiled and opened the passenger door. He looked at me cautiously before getting in the car, allowing me to deal with his luggage.

'You want me to do what, now?' Bilkin's exclaimed, sitting back on the couch. We had been through the whole story of how I had come to be DK and what happened from then.

'I need you to reassign my licence', I muttered.

'You've got to be kidding me, Jude, after everything…'

'Bilkin's, this isn't about my reputation or about anybody else's, this is about my family being up in a hospital because of a random street jumping, because of my stupid decisions', I snapped, pacing again in front of him.

'Jude…' he tried.

'Bilkin's not once in the years that I have known have I ever asked you for anything, not one thing', I sighed, 'I know what I'm asking is absolutely impossible, but I need to do this. My gut feeling is there's more to this than anybody is letting on. That these guys are involved in something'.

'Jude, I'll try, but I can't guarantee any kind of celebration for your return', he smiled.

'I don't need a celebration, B, I just need back in', I stated, stopping in front of him, hand out.

'Welcome back, Jude', he sighed, reaching into the pocket of his jacket and slapping something cold and leathery into my hand. It was my badge.

'What the…' I muttered, turning it over.

'Once a cop, always a cop', he smiled.

'You knew, didn't you?' I smirked, crossing my arms.

'You're brother let on to something, and I just took it from there, I know you better than you think I do, Jude', he just sat there smiling smugly.

'Thanks, B', I smiled.

'Remember, Jude, call me if you need something, all right, don't be a stranger', he snapped, glaring at me.

'No problem', I laughed, 'did you want a tube, or the bedroom?'

'If you don't mind, I'll take the room'.

'Sure', I laughed again as I watched him take an irritated glance at the tubes before making his way over to the bedroom.

It was two days down the track. Bilkin's had headed home, something about him being needed back in L.A. That very day I had received a phone call from none other than Dominic Torreto. He was about to get onto a plane to Tokyo.

'Come on', I muttered angrily, staring at the screen waiting for his plane to say arrived. It switched, but not to what I wanted. Delayed. 'Son of a bitch!' I screamed, causing a few people to stare in my general direction.

'Language, please, Miss', came a rather baritone voice. I tensed up quickly, recognising it right off the bat.

'The 9.50 plane to Tokyo, huh?' I snapped, turning to glare at Dom.

'I was slipped onto an earlier plane, it's not my problem', he smirked.

'Follow me', I was less than impressed.

It took us less than half an hour to make it out of the airport and over to my car. It took us over half an hour to just get out of the airport parking.

'So why did you need me here within the week, Jude?' he snapped suddenly, causing me to jump. It was the first thing any one of us had said within the hour.

'You're little tampering a year ago, caused a few unwanted chain of events', I grounded out, suddenly very angry.

'What?' he seemed surprised.

'Twinkie told me, Dom. You tampered with the American's car and everything shut down when he came to the ramp', I snapped, 'Neela's in hospital, Dom, they came back for her'.

'I didn't tamper with the racers car, I tampered with his brothers, fucker'.

'You must of, Dom, Twinkie saw you do it', I snapped, going way over the speed limit as I hit the freeway.

'And if I did?'

'Then you are stuck here for the remainder of your life until we find the people involved', I grumbled, heading over 260km/h.

'Why is it such a big deal, Jude? Your friend came out fine, no harm, no foul', he stated.

I ignored his question as I headed for the hospital. Neela was in there for a day or two more. They wanted to run a few more tests before they let her go. She was in a coma for awhile.

It didn't take long to reach the hospital, simply because of the speed I had done, but that didn't matter. My stomach started doing summersaults again and I was beginning to get paranoid. My phone began to ring.

'Twinkie?' I snapped into the phone as I walked through the doors into the hospital.

'Jude, you need to get…' and the sound of his voice tipped me off. I dropped my phone and bolted for the stairs. The elevators were too slow. I forgot about Dom who had been walking behind me, I forgot about the guys who had hurt Neela, I forgot all about my reassignment of my job, nothing was as important as this.

I reached her floor and bolted down the hallway, ignoring people shouting at me to slow down. I wouldn't, I couldn't, not until I reached her room. I ran around the corner and I nearly collapsed. The cops were milling around the room.

'Neela!' I shouted, running at the cops and pushing through them, they cursed at me in Japanese and tried to push me back, but I tore out my badge and barged through. 'Neela!'

'Jude!' I heard Twinkie exclaim as I finally came into the room.

'Twinkie, where is she, what happened?' I snapped, glaring from the empty bed to him.

'Jude…She…'

'Are you Officer Jude O'Connor?' a cop behind me questioned.

'What?' I shouted, turning around to face the cop who had spoken, 'What do you want?'

'We need to speak to you', he stated, unperturbed by my outbursts.

'Go', Twinkie nodded, brows creased together.

'Follow me', the cop stated, leading me out of the room and down the hall. I had seen Dom coming down the hall and it was then that I realised Twinkie had still been on the phone. I turned back to Dom and I saw him holding my phone to his ear. He looked sympathetic.


	16. Chapter 16

'Officer', I mumbled as I sat in the empty lunch room

'Officer', I mumbled as I sat in the empty lunch room. Another officer had walked in. No-one was giving me the answers I wanted, so I continuously sent them out. I never took the time to memorize they're names, I never even took the time to study they're faces.

'Jude…' he tried.

'Officer Jude', I corrected. They all tried to get personal, hoping to make everything less painful.

'Officer Jude…' he started again.

'Are you going to tell me what happened to Neela, or am I going to have to send you packing as well…?'

'Actually…I was just telling you we're letting you go', he trembled.

'What happened to Neela…?' I snapped.

'She, uh…'

'Mate, seriously, I am one pissed of officer, if you do not come out with it in ten seconds, I will rip your balls off and send you packing', I shouted. There was no one here to tell me to quieten down. At least there wasn't anymore.

'According to the biopsy…' the officer stammered. I froze. Biopsy. A biopsy meant she was…

'She's dead?' I whispered, staring at the light glaring off of the table.

'Yes, J… Officer Jude, she passed away in the early morning', he stammered. 'We notified her family'.

'What family, she hasn't got any', I started, 'I was her family, what fucking family could you have possibly notified…' I screamed.

I stood up and glared at the little man beside me and I shouted. Any damn noise, I just made it, and he bolted unceremoniously out of the room. I continued to shout as I picked up a chair and threw it across the room.

At first it was chairs, but it built up to tables. By the time I was finished the centre of the room was void of all chairs and tables. I was laying in the centre of the room on my stomach, arms crossed in front of me with my chin resting on my hands.

Tears slowly rolled down my cheek and fell with a little drop onto my hand before either drying up or rolling on the floor. I hadn't moved for about an hour now. It was nearly two since the officer told me.

I heard the door open. Of course I heard it open, there was chairs thrown against it. To open the door, they had to knock the chairs. 'Jude…'

I didn't say anything. 'Jude, it's me'. Twinkie. I watched his feet make they're way from the door down to where I was currently laying before squatting in front of me.

'Did you know, Twinkie?' I croaked out. All the shouting and screaming had made my voice hoarse.

'Last I knew, they were uh, taking her off for tests, so I came here to get something to eat', he stammered slightly. 'I checked up on her and she was back in her room, she was sleeping and everything'.

'Twinkie…' I mumbled and I watched him swing around until he was lying beside me, exactly the way I was.

'She was fine, Jude, the tests came back negative for anything, they were going to release her a couple of days early', he whispered.

'Then how…' I couldn't say it.

'The biopsy came back positive for some poison', he whispered, 'all the doctors treating her and on the floor are being interviewed'.

'They said they had contacted her family', I whispered, 'what family…?'

'They contacted me, Jude', he muttered, causing my body to relax slightly. The last thing I needed was Kamata on my tail. '…and Kamata'.

'What?' I exclaimed before cringing. Anything louder than a whisper hurt my throat.

'It seems he has a few people in the hospital on the pay roll, Jude'.

'That's the last thing I need', I muttered, rolling my head to the side so that I could look at Twinkie.

'She's really gone, Jude', he whispered as if answering a question he saw on my face.

'I know', I whispered, wiping a tear away on my hand as if it was acid, 'how did it happen, Twinkie, how could anyone get into this hospital with poison?'

'Come on, let's get back to the garage, we've got to get your friend settled in', He sighed; as he heaved up off of the floor. I sighed irritably as he placed his hands underneath both of my arms and heaved me up off the floor.

'I'm gonna kill 'em, Twink, I'm going to find them and…' I couldn't finish and he just nodded before leading me out of the lunch room.

It took awhile to get through the ring of police around the door, and it also took a fair while finding Dom in the hospital, but it didn't take long at all for us to reach the garage, with me driving Dom back and Twinkie following behind.

'Why did you do it?' I asked after awhile. Twinkie had gone to get some food, so his excuse went. Dom was sitting across the room from me. No-one, not even Twinkie, had been brave enough to come within a metre radius of me.

'Why did I do what?' he answered back cautiously.

'Come off it, Dom', I snapped, anger bubbling. 'I know you did it, you're the only one stupid enough to do something like this'.

'I thought it was you driving', he whispered acidly.

'So you tried to tamper with my car?' I shouted, shooting to my feet.

'No, sit down', he snapped, glaring up at me through his lashes. I did as he said and sat down on the couch. 'I thought you were racing and I tampered with this guys car in hopes he'd think it was you'.

'Well you got that fucking right, what the fuck is you're problem?' I shouted, standing back up only to begin pacing.

'You were a cop, Jude, you think I'd forget that straight away', he shouted out.

'I was with you for a year in L.A, Dom, you knew she was being hunted, didn't you, you knew she was going to end up in the hospital, you knew and not once did you tell me', I had almost started crying, but I sucked it up and sighed angrily.

'I knew she was being hunted, but they weren't anywhere near her when I left, when nothing had happened after a few months I figured they had given up', he shrugged.

'She's dead now, Dom, how the fuck do you feel about that?' I screamed, much unlike myself.

'Jude, I…' he tried.

'You know what, I know what you can do, I know the very thing that will make this all better', I laughed acidly. 'I was just recently welcomed back into the LAPD'.

'What?' he exclaimed, standing up quickly, sending the chair he had been sitting on, flying back a little.

'You, are about to be a cop, Dom, you are going to be with me through this whole fucking thing', I snapped, tearing out my phone. I dialled the last number on my call list and sighed irritably.

'Jude, what's happened?' came the sharp voice of Bilkin's through the speaker on my phone.

'I need you to pull a few strings for me, B, this game has just stepped up a notch', I sighed.

'What happened?' he snapped, and I heard the rustling of sheets.

'Neela's dead, biopsy came back positive for a poison', I replied and I heard rustling of papers now. 'I need to get my hands on that biopsy report and copies of the tapes from the security camera for her floor, think you can give the cops here a kick up the arse, let them know I'll be on my way tomorrow?'

'Yeah sure', I heard him sigh sadly, 'Sorry, Jude, about your friend'.

'I'm going to get them, Bilkin's', and at that I shut my phone, hanging up on Bilkins.

'What do you need me to do?' Dom asked quietly.

'You…' I laughed scoffingly, 'you are going to stay in Tokyo until every things solved. You are involved in this, if you skip town, I will bring you down so hard…' I just tried to crush my phone in anger, not being able to finish my sentence.

'Yeah, I get it', he sighed.

'You get the bottom tube, get some sleep, we're up early tomorrow', and at that I headed straight for the bedroom.

I hadn't slept very well, so it was no surprise to me that when I sat bolt upright in bed covered in cold sweat, that I was the only one awake. I laid myself back down and sighed softly, bringing the doona up over my shoulders, tucked underneath my chin.

It was hard to think that the one person I had come to count on in Tokyo was no longer with us. It seemed that as soon as I came to rely on someone, they either disappeared or ended up dead, my mother, my father, Rome…Han.

'Jude…?' someone whispered, knocking on my door softly. I stayed still, staring up at the ceiling.

'What's up, Twink?' I yawned, turning my head to stare at him slightly.

'Just wondering whether you wanted some breakfast, your friend cooked', he shrugged as I sighed.

'Yeah I'll be there in a tick', I mumbled, looking back up at my ceiling. I heard the door click closed and I felt the single tear fall down and across my cheek. 'No', I snapped, slapping my hand to my cheek, scratching away the trail the tear had created. I then rubbed my eyes, ridding myself of the rest. I was not going to do this; I promised myself after L.A I wouldn't do it…The whole pathetic crying thing.

I sighed angrily before folding my doona back and swinging my legs over the edge of my bed, sitting up in the process. It took me a while to get out of bed, but I eventually did and made my way out of the door and into the makeshift kitchen.

'Finally', Twink smiled, cutting up some charcoaled looking bacon on his plate. When did we get cutlery?

'Here', Dom stated, placing a plate in front of me on the table as I sat down.

'Cheers', was all I could mumbled as I felt my body ache. Had I been starving myself? And if I had been, was it by choice, or by simply forgetting?

I stared down at my plate, and what I saw looked utterly appetizing, but absolutely disgusting at the same time. It's been awhile since I had a loaded plate of bacon and eggs with baked beans on toast.

'You cooked this?' I questioned rudely, not looking up from my "meal".

'It wasn't hard', he smirked, and all I could think was "I bet".

'Jude…' it was Twinkie. His usual happy tone wasn't present with his address.

'Twink?' I sighed, taking a bite of bacon before looking up at him.

'When are you gonna fill me in on your boy here?' he seemed to glance at Dom hesitantly as he took a seat across the table from the two of us.

'When I figure out when the right time is to tell you about myself', I muttered, feeling instantly guilty. In all honesty, Twink knew me well enough, the Tokyo me, he did not know a single thing about my past in L.A, Miami, why I was exiled. 'Sorry, Twink, things are just a little complicated right now, if your willing to just roll with things, that would be great, and I'll fill you in on things as they come up'.

'Fo'sho', he nodded, smiling his very own smile. He still wasn't delighted about not knowing anything, but getting a guarantee that he would eventually find out was good enough.

'Cheers', I smiled, lifting the glass of orange juice that was sat in front of me, chinking it softly against Dom's and Twinkies.

I opened the car door, and it made a loud and resounding click. I looked around quickly, checking for any signs of movement above me, they hadn't heard the door. I released the handbrake and put the car in neutral before letting it roll backwards down and out of the garage. I needed some alone time, and I had a niggling feeling that if I mentioned going out anywhere to the two other occupants of the warehouse, they'd be tagging along.

I pushed the car, which seemed heavier this time round, to the end of the lane and jumped into the driver's seat. Starting the car, I ripped out of the lane and onto the main road, exhaling as my escape went smoothly.

I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do when I eventually figured it out, but being clear of my "home" was the greatest feeling I felt since Neela.

'What's going on?' I voice rumbled behind me, and I jumped, ripping the steering wheel to the left, veering onto the other side of the road, gaining myself some angry gestures and horn beeps. I didn't answer the voice, knowing who it was. 'Well?'

'What are you doing in my car?' I snapped finally, turning down an unused street and pulling over into the parallel parking bays.

'What are you doing sneaking out?' he asked me seriously, the angry rumble still in his tone.

'Get out of my car', I shouted finally, hands gripping the steering wheel as I finally decided to rip on the handbrake and take my foot off of the brake.

'What's going on, Jude, what's happening?' he asked seriousness still there, but just the slightest hint of panic. Any normal person wouldn't have noticed it, but it had been my job to notice subtle things like that, so it hadn't slip passed.

'Just get out of my car, please?' I added as a last resort.

'Drive', he stated defiantly, ignoring my desperate requests.

'What?' I muttered, confused, finally turning to face him.

'Just drive, all right, it's obviously what you came out here to do, so… do it', he added lamely.

'Dom…' I closed my eyes tight, hoping that when I opened them, he would no longer be sitting in the back of my car. Opening them slowly, my eyes revealed that I wasn't having a nightmare, he was really there.

'Jude…trust me', he whispered the last part, and I had never heard him whisper before, so I, strangely, took him seriously. I took the handbrake off and gear changed my way up the unused street, appearing on another main road, one I had used way to many times. I finally knew where I was going.

'Hold on', I muttered, tearing through the traffic like it was non existent.


End file.
